The Summer that changed everything
by Ghostly Gentleman Thief
Summary: Spring is over, Summer is here. Many changes will come to the Loud family in the form of old faces and new faces. It all starts when Lynn Sr's estranged brother comes to town, and with him, a past long left behind.
1. Avery part 1

**The following takes place during the summer before the eldest Loud sister Lori leaves for college. This is my first fanfic, so don't go lightly on the criticisms. Oh, and before I forget, I don't own The Loud House, I just think it's really cool.**

Spring was drawing to a close, and the town of Royal Woods, MI could not have been more beautiful. The kids in the park were running and playing with various sports equipment, and it was overall a great day to be alive.

Meanwhile, down the street at the corner of main and 19th, stood a brick building with a small parking lot attached. The place was "Lynn's Table," a newly opened restaurant owned by Lynn Loud Sr, where he served "Great Food, at a Great Price." On that particular day, business was uppity, and Lynn Sr. was starting to regret only taking on three employees, those being a teenager named Grant, who had prior experience in the Food industry; Kataro, who was Lynn's best friend and fellow musician; and the newest addition to the Lynn's Table family was none other than his eldest daughter Lori.

Lori had begun working under her father to save up money for college, as well as having an excuse to spend time with her dad before her departure for greener horizons. It was tough at first finding the right role for her, as small annoyances had hindered her ability to perform the simplest of tasks. However, her experience in helping raise 10 younger siblings had prepared her for the perfect job, as manager.

It was only a few days ago that Lori received her High School diploma from Royal Woods High School, so from then on she had a couple months to finalize orders from manufacturers and overall run the day to day operations of the restaurant while her father remained in the kitchen doing what he did best.

Two months from now, Lori would be heading to another state to study at Fairway University, a college nationally known for its golf-centric curriculum, which took special notice of Lori, enough to snag her a scholarship. The best part was that she'd be minutes away from her boyfriend Roberto Santiago, or as everybody called him, Bobby. Still, as excited as Lori was to be leaving the nest so to speak, she couldn't help but worry about her siblings.

She had always been the mother bird to her large family as her parents spent much time away from home in the hopes of making enough money to keep their children clothed, fed, and warm.

The biggest problem with her leaving was that her roommate and slightly younger sister Leni would likely be in charge of corraling the rest of her rowdy siblings from tearing down the house with their antics. Put simply, Leni was the epitome of a dumb blonde, and was too gentle and kind for her own good.

That wasn't to say she was incompetent, far from it. It was because of her big heart and knowledge of all things fashion that she was able to get a job of her own at the Rheinengers department store, where she flourished and impressed her coworkers and costumers alike.

Lori figured that she could always delegate the responsibility to the next oldest child, Luna. However, Luna was a bit of a wild child that gave her surname a whole new meaning. Because Luna was a musician, no, scratch that, she was a musical PRODIGY, her guitar playing was as impressive as it was blaring, and that was just her instrument of choice. She might not be the best candidate to watch after everybody once Lori left.

Thinking about her family so much was starting to distract from her duties, as her coworker Kataro had to shake her shoulder to get her to return to reality.

"Uh, Lori." He said in a concerned tone of voice.

"Huh, whuh?" She replied, slightly embarrassed by her temporary drift into distraction. "Oh, sorry Kataro, what's up?"

"There's a man over in booth eleven who's asking to see the manager," pointing to that exact location where indeed, a man in a tan business suit was looking at the duo with a smile on his face. He gave a slight wave for her to come over and speak to him.

The man made Lori slightly nervous, but she'd come across her share of creeps, so she figured any ill intentions from him could be squashed immediately. She began her short walk over to him.

As she got closer, his features became more and more clear. She could already tell from afar that he had no hair on his head aside from a small goatee. What she discovered upon getting closer was that he wasn't unpleasant looking up close. He could almost be family.

However, his smile was slowing replaced with a look of confusion as the high school graduate approached him, standing just several inches away.

"You're the manager?," he finally said. "No offense but you seem kinda young to be managing a restaurant."

Not the least bit perturbed, Lori explained. "Yes, I'm the manager currently, and I'll have you know that I think being a manager has more to do with knowledge than experience."

The man didn't respond, but rather he squinted his eyes towards Lori and continued to stare at her face.

"When I asked to see the manager, I'd thought I would get sent Lynn, the owner. But come to think of it, you do look kinda familiar," he spoke, never once taking his eyes off of her.

"Well fine," Lori said in a low menacing voice. "The truth is, my dad IS Lynn, I'm his eldest daughter."

At the realization, the Man's eyes widened, as did his smile. "You do look a lot like Rita—"

Upon hearing that, Lori was officially creeped out, but she still had a job to do so she quickly asked. "What was it you wanted to see my father for, SIR?"

Sensing the young woman's growing agitated state, he simply said, "You could say I'm an old friend that just wanted to catch up. I don't live here in town but rather an hour from here in Hazeltucky."

"Lori-loo," a voice erupted from the kitchen, belonging to her father. "The steak's are here." Seeing her chance, Lori said

"I'd better get that, my dad can get upset when things aren't on schedule."

"I know, right. Say, why don't you send him over here, I'd really like to talk to him, and he'll explain everything, I promise."

By that point Lori had already stopped listening and was power walking towards the kitchen. She wiped her face of any sweat before pushing the swinging door.

"On it dad," she spoke, not bothering to look at him. "By the way, there's a man at booth eleven who claims to know you, and mom for some reason."

Lynn Loud Sr was by many glances, a coward. But when his kids felt threatened, he pushed it all aside to be the protective father he knew he was.

"Thanks sweetie, I'll handle him. Right after I take the "Lynnger Chicken out of the oven." He replied. Once that task was complete, Lynn Sr. made it all the way to booth eleven.

"Listen Bucko," he spoke in a gruff voice. "I don't know who you are, but nobody just goes around—"

The man's head was buried in his phone, but when he heard the sound of the chef's voice, his head slowly lifted with a smile.

"Hiya Lynn, looks like your dream came true after all" he said.

Lynn stood there stunned at the person in front of him. It was somebody he thought he wouldn't have to deal with anymore.

"A-A-Avery," he sputtered out at last.

"Good to see you… Brother."

**Thus concludes the first chapter. I was inspired to write this story because I found a surprising lack of fanfics that focused on the relationship with Lynn Sr.'s extended family. "Home of the Fav" is probably my favorite episode of Season three and one of my favs overall. But let me know what you think.**


	2. Avery part 2

**Only one week later, I bring you the second chapter in my first fanfic. This one is three times as long as the first, so let me know if this is a good length for future chapters. Again, I don't own The Loud House, I just think it's really cool.**

Lynn Sr stared in disbelief. The man before him was none other than his older brother, Avery. Quickly however, the look on the chef's face turned into a deep scowl. "W-Why are you here? Why now? You've got some nerve coming to my restaurant." The tan suited man gave his little brother a look of disappointment.

"You always had a special way of saying hello to people." he replied, pulling his menu from off to the side into his lap after opening it. "There's a lot of dishes in here named after you, but how do you explain the 'luanchovie pizza,' 'lucaesar salad,' and 'lanacotti?' Lynn Sr remained tight lipped, feeling he didn't owe his "brother" any explanation.

"Oh wait," Avery said suddenly. "There's something called 'Chicken Caccia-lori' served here". "The manager I just spoke to claimed to be your daughter, she answered to the name Lori a moment ago."

By this point the restaurant owner was visibly shaking from listening to the man in front of him speak about his daughters. If he didn't have an eatery to run, he would've reached over and pulled the bald man close to his face by his tie. Instead, he took several deep breaths before replying. "Good Sir, if you don't order something, you're going to have to leave this establishment. There are plenty of people waiting to eat who wish to NOT waste my time."

The dapper dressed man took one last look at his menu before closing it and calmly setting it down in front of him. "Lynn, it's been far too long since I've seen you; I only want to make things up to you however I can." The grimace on Lynn's face was so obvious it could have been seen from space.

"Order something or take your backstabbing self to the nearest bar where you belong, this is supposed to be a family restaurant," the chef practically spat through gritted teeth.

"Alright, alright," the intruder said raising his arms in defense before sighing. "I'll have a root beer to drink, and to eat I'd like an order of these 'Buffalola chicken wings' to start, followed by the 'Luna Cassarole' with a side of 'Lynnostrone soup'". The man then smiled, sadly. "You know, you're famous enough now that even Hazeltucky wants in on some of your cuisine," he added, pulling out his phone and showing the chef a news article praising _Lynn's Table. _"I even sent you an invite over the internet asking you to be at my wedding years back. I guess you still hate me."

With his arms crossed, Lynn pondered his next words. The look on his face told his older brother that just thinking was painful. Finally, he said "Alright so that's an order of 'Buffalola chicken wings,' the 'Luna Cassarole,' and a side of 'Lynnostrone soup?'"

"Plus a root beer," Avery clarified.

"Which I don't make homemade, I buy separately" the chef told the unwelcome but still hopefully paying customer. "Very well, your order will be out when I get to it, as you've noticed we're short-staffed around here, so don't be surprised if it takes an hour… or two."

"I'll be here," Avery said with a look of resolve. "You've probably got a lot of questions, and I'm ready to give up any and all answers." Giving a short grunt, the still frazzled chef turned his back on his once beloved sibling, and headed back into his domicile.

Lori was finished signing for the steaks and was about to finish placing the several dozen cuts of meat into the freezer, before she remembered what happened when she first started working at the restaurant, getting locked in the freezer, similar to her boyfriend Bobby on more than one occasion. Lori stamped on the ground lock, holding the door in place so that she could then carry the steaks into their temporary home. At that moment, her father burst into the kitchen with a look of nausea on his face, earning him a look of concern from his eldest child.

"Dad?" she called to him, even though he was only several feet away. "You alright? Who is that man?" Without warning, Lynn Sr shuffled towards the sink, turned on the water, and promptly emptied his stomach into the basin. Lori was horrified.

"DAD, Oh My God" she yelled, running up behind him. "Are you getting sick? I'm going to close the restaurant for the day." She turned to leave but was grabbed by her arm.

"No, don't, it's alright," he wheezed, still trying to catch his breath. He cupped his free hand, holding the water as if it held precious immunity. He brought the handful to his mouth, downed the entire bounty before swishing and spitting back into the sink. Finally he spoke.

"Sweetheart, I'm not sick, just a little startled," he confessed. "Why?" the young women replied. "Should I call the police? Did that man threaten you?" The fear on her face was enough to get the grown man to snap out of his daze.

"Lori honey, that guy out there means nothing to me," he said as he placed both hands on the trembling shoulders of his daughter. "BUT," he spoke with alarm. "He is our most important customer at the moment, so much so that I need you to go to the front of house and tell Grant to send everybody waiting to eat, home." Lori's eyes grew with the sudden request, but they were about to get much bigger. "Then, let him know to meet in the kitchen after he's done so. Next," he paused, anger beginning to build up in him for the sacrifice he was about to make. "Tell Kataro to give anybody still eating, some to-go containers for their food, and anybody still waiting on their food should get a coupon, and some mints. Then, after the first group has paid, send everybody out the door before telling Kataro to get in here for a staff meeting."

With all the information Lynn just unloaded on his daughter, he was getting out of breath again. "Uh, dad_?"

"Lori, please," he begged. "It's really important that I talk to this man alone, he's very persistent, and is unfairly patient." The look in her father's eyes was enough to break her heart, but Lori obeyed and turned to leave.

"One more thing," he squeaked out. "I know it's below your pay grade, but could you take a glass of root beer to booth eleven? He's the only patron allowed to stay, don't talk to him, just give him the drink. I promise he won't hurt you, but don't pay him any more attention than that."

Lori rushed through the swinging door into the dining room, her mission clear. All the while, the chef returned to the sink to scrub his hands and forearms, furiously.

Meanwhile, at the Royal Woods Mall

Nobody knew how to explain it, but the Royal Woods Mall was still operating after many decades. Nowadays, anybody could just go online to have their retail needs met, and at a much better price most of the time. However, perhaps the town just had a thing for nostalgia that the internet could never take away. Plus, it wasn't as though it wasn't being put to good use, with senior citizens using the metropolis of shopping to get plenty of exercise they couldn't find at a regular gym.

It was also at this mall that Leni Loud, Lori's sister and roommate, was just wrapping up a shift at Reiningers Department Store. Now that school was done for a while, Leni would have no excuse to leave the place she considered her second home. However, laws have a way of hitting you where it hurts.

"O.. Em.. Gosh you guys," she said in her typical cheery manner to her co-workers Miguel and Fiona. "This is going to be the BEST summer ever, just the three of us working and never having to leave for school." By now, Miguel and Fiona were used to the overly dim, but kind hearted girl. Which is why bringing her back to reality was a heart breaking ritual that made them happy that at least she was a hard worker.

"Actually Leni, dear," Miguel spoke first. "You still have to go home, you can't work here forever, non-stop." The clouds in Leni's head began to darken. "What do you mean, I love this job," her eye's then widened in fear. "Wait, am I getting fired again, I swear I never stole anything, Ms. Carmichael can't make me leave, I'm assistant manager." Fiona was quick to grab Leni's shoulders and ease her fears.

"No silly girl," she said calmly. "What Miguel is saying is that they have rules for working longer than you want."

"Rules?" the bleach blonde replied with confusion. "Like what they have at Dairyland?" The two teens nodded with some hesitation, knowing a better metaphor existed but not being able to find it at the moment. "You can only work up to 30 hours in a week, just like during the school year," Fiona explained. "It doesn't change once you're out of school, and it doesn't have to, we just have to sit down and talk about the rest of our summer plans so that we can spend as much time working together as we can, 'boss,'" she said with a wink.

If there were tears in Leni's eyes, they most certainly weren't from sadness anymore. "Y..You really mean that?" she said with a smile, wiping her face. "Of course, we couldn't ask for a better boss to also be our friend," Miguel and Fiona both said. At that moment, their _other _boss Ms. Carmichael walked into earshot.

"You're lucky your shift is coming to an end, you three," she said, startling the trio as she walked towards them. "Be sure to put in your new shift requests by the weeks end, I would like to have a word with you all at the staff meeting next week." The last part was said with a hung head, not being missed by any of the teen's.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Carmichael?," Leni spoke up with her signature look of concern. "Nothing for the lot of you to worry about right now, just enjoy working." She said before pointing to the employee lounge. "But you can enjoy doing so tomorrow, your shifts are over." With that, the older red-headed woman walked away.

"C'mon guys, lets hit the food court," Leni suggested. "I still have a few hours before dad and Lori come get me." The teens didn't get a chance to reply before being pulled by their arms towards the exit into the mall. "Leni, wait," they said as they were dragged across the floor by the deceptively strong girl. "We still need to clock out first." Luckily Leni stopped, blushing with embarrassment.

The three teens were munching on junk food, discussing their summer plans. "So my family is supposed to take a cruise across South America," Fiona stated with her typical dry excitement. "We'll be seeing every major port city; Buenos Aires, Lima, Santiago once we find a place to dock, Sao Paulo..." She would have kept naming them if they weren't interrupted by a stout boy in a striped shirt and cap. "Heeey guys, what's cool?" said the teen that the whole group knew by one name.

"Chaz!" They exclaimed before motioning for him to sit, next to Leni. "Just get off work?"

"Nope," he said, drink in hand. "I'm only on break, but I really needed to speak with Leni since I know she'll leave while I'm still working. It's very important." Miguel and Fiona were aware of Chaz and Leni's "relationship," and immediately got up. "We'll just go grab a couple smoothies, the line should be long enough," Fiona said, grabbing Miguels hand and rushing off with a smile.

Left alone, Leni looked at her 'boyfriend' and gave a small smile. "Hi Chaz, so what have you been up to?"

"Only working, and maybe coming up with a life goal." Chaz then looked away from his 'girlfriend,' earning him a glare from the lovely lady.

"Chaz, is everything alright? I haven't seen you much lately. I know we said that we shouldn't go too quickly with our relationship, but you haven't really met the rest of my family yet outside of Lori."

The fashion minded boy could only sigh. "You know, the last time I was at your house was when that big party was going on and there was like a hundred people, who was even the host?" Leni thought the memory was odd since parties at the Loud House were kept small and usually only within the immediate family, which was big enough to be a large party be some standards. Then it occurred to her…

"Oh, you mean that time when everybody was playing the 'friend card' to get privileges," she replied. Chaz gave a look of confusion, thinking this was another "Leni-ism," having accepted that Leni was different from other girls, but didn't really care since she was the first girl to show him any attention beyond being just friends. However, she wasn't the only one.

"Listen Leni," he began after looking back at her. "You are really great, and so talented as a seamstress." The teenage girl blushed at the compliment. "Oh thank you, Chaz. You're totes sweet."

"Chaz especially likes that cosplay you did for the "Eleven of Hearts" character your brother created, did you help with the initial design?"

"Nope, that was all Linky, he must have learned basic designing from me," she replied. Suddenly, her face turned downward at the thought of her only brother. It was so obvious even a boy like Chaz could see it.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is it about Lincoln?" He said, putting a hand on one of her shoulders.

"It's just, I haven't really seen him much since we returned from that convention a few months ago. At first I thought he was practicing his magic, so that's why I can't see him as often." Chaz ears perked up at the word convention.

"Yeah that's right, you and your sisters are going to be in that new Ace Savvy movie, you're so lucky." Leni didn't respond for a while before saying, "I don't think Linky sees it that way, I mean, he's going to be in the movie too, but not with us."

"What does that mean?" he asked

"Well, you see, I only went to the convention because of the contest, not because I'm a nerd like Lincoln." Chaz was a bit offended, since he was still a fan of Ace Savvy even as a teenager. Leni quickly realized her slip up. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with… What I'm trying to get at is that comics have always been Lincoln's thing, but he doesn't have any real talents like me or Lori or anybody else in our family. So when we got all of this attention even though we were new to the world of comics, I guess he got really jealous. Long story short, he did something very unheroic to try to get attention, and he almost got away with it."

"Almost?," Chaz replied.

"Yeah, the judges were going to give him the cameo and forget about us, even though we were the one's that saved him from his plan. But, in the end, he confessed that he was wrong, and let us have the honor," Leni finished.

"Wow! That must've been hard for him to do, your little bro sure has integrity when it really counts." At that point Leni began to cry, and Chaz immediately regretted what he said. "Hey, please don't cry, I was just stating a fact.

Leni wiped her face, but couldn't stop fresh tears from flowing down her red cheeks. "So anyway, the judges pretty much gave him the role of cleaning up after Mr. Kitty, I guess as punishment, I'm not even sure he's going to be in the movie, they're probably going to have them stay on set and just pay them to clean the litter box off camera. Lincoln can be selfish at times, but he doesn't deserve to have this happen to him. He probably feels like we took his dream from him without even trying."

Chaz may have been young, but he knew when he had to comfort somebody. He stood up from his chair, and embracing the sobbing mess that was his 'girlfriend.' "It's OK Leni, your brother is so much more optimistic than that, I'm sure he'll bounce back. So, how HAS he been, I didn't let you finish telling me how he's been doing." When Leni felt like she could talk, she took a drink of water and explained.

"OK, so recently Lincoln hasn't been saying much, and that's only when I actually see him. I asked him about where he's been and he just told me he's staying after school or hanging out with his best friend Clyde."

"You don't think he still resents you, do ya?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"Well, we've been giving him his space since he doesn't want to help us like he used to," she explained. "Mom and Dad told us that Lincoln would get over it eventually, but it's been three months and it's already summer vacation, and he's still been at Clyde's since school ended. I really miss him, and want to let him know how much I love him." Chaz smiled. "You're a great sister, Leni. Maybe a talk from you is just what the doctor ordered."

"Wait, Lincoln's seeing a doctor, I can't believe it's gotten that bad," she panicked. Chaz did a rare facepalm, not at Leni, but for his forgetting not to use phrases in front of her that could be taken the wrong way. "No, Leni, I mean, talking to Lincoln is the best idea we've got at this point," he clarified.

"Do you want to come over and help me? I bet speaking with another Ace Savvy fan could lift his spirits," Leni offered. Chaz sighed before looking Leni right in the eyes. "No can do Len, this is something that must be done between the two of you, and hopefully the rest of your sisters can get through to him."

"Oh, OK, so when do you want to get together next?" she said with disappointment in her voice. Chaz looked at his phone, noting that his break was close to being over, he stood up. "I don't work tomorrow, but I'll meet you here during your break, I still need to talk to you about something very important, but we just lost track of time and there's not enough left right now for us to talk everything out." He kissed Leni on the cheek and hustled back to his job at another clothing store. Leni just sat there, more dumbfounded than usual, as Miguel and Fiona returned to the table. The look on their friends' face was concerning.

"Leni, is everything alright? You didn't break up did you?" Fiona asked. "No, but he never told me what was so important that you guys needed to step away for a bit. He's going to tell me tomorrow, and now I won't be able to stop thinking about it until then." Miguel and Fiona looked at each other.

"C'mon girl, lets see a movie together, you don't have to pay for anything this time," Miguel offered. Leni didn't perk up, but instead stood up with a sigh. Her friends escorted her out of the food court and towards the cinema close to, but off-site of the mall.

Back at Lynn's Table

Lori, Kotaro, and Grant were gathered in the kitchen. A small pot of Lynnostrone soup sat on the stove, and a pan of Luna Casserole was cooking in the oven. Lynn Sr then stepped through the doors in a huff, approaching his staff. "OK gang, he's gotten his chicken wings. Once he finishes the last one, we'll bring out the soup and casserole and be free of him in no time."

"Dad, seriously," Lori chided. "I haven't seen you act like this since the grand opening, are you going to explain what's going on?"

"Yeah, why did everybody need to go home so suddenly,?" Grant added.

The moment had come, Lynn couldn't hide the truth from his family and friends much longer.

"OK, you're right," the chef said resigned. "I'll just skip the dramatic opening and get right to it." After taking the biggest deep breath he'd likely taken up to that point today, he dropped the bombshell.

"That's my brother out there, but I really wish it wasn't." For the next few minutes, there was nothing but silence, and dropped jaws.

**So we've reached the end of this chapter. I almost cut it off at around 1,000 words like last time, but the stuff with Leni I felt was just too important to not hold onto for now. So what do you guys think, longer chapters, shorter chapters? Also, leave critiques, I'm tough. No clue when the next chapter will come, but let's just say I have this whole story figured out.**


	3. Avery Part 3

**A/N: I realized not too long ago that Leni-strone Soup would have been a better food pun than giving another one to either Lynn Sr or LJ. Oh well. I don't own The Loud House, I just think it's really cool.**

"An Uncle!?," Lori said once she was able to hinge her jaw. "Dad? Why have I never heard of him? Aunt Shirley never brought him up in conversation either." The young manager was even more confused than ever before. Why did the whole restaurant need to be closed just to talk with one person? Lori had reached her breaking point and began to lay into her father.

"Dad, this can't be good for business. Our wait times were beginning to reach 1-2 hours on a SLOW day, we're not a fancy restaurant, so requiring a reservation to eat here is not an option." Lynn Sr placed his hand out in front of himself, signaling Lori to listen.

"This staff meeting isn't just about your "Uncle" Avery," he confessed. "There are going to have to be a few changes going into the next couple of months. You're not going to be working here come August, so I need to find a new manager starting NOW, and that doesn't cover the major staffing issue that I have." At that moment, the oven timer dinged, marking the end of the Luna Cassarole's cook time. The chef wasted no time removing it from its hot prison to let it cool. He then poured the Lynnostrone Soup into a bowl before placing it onto a tray. He returned to face his staff, continuing his speech.

"So here's what's going to happen. Tonight, I'm going to advertise that we need more workers, and I'll schedule some interviews until I feel we can serve the community properly." He then breathed sadly. "Until then, I'm going to have the place run on reduced hours. We'll only be open on weekdays from 11 AM to 4 PM." Kataro, Grant, and Lori nodded with the same sadness their boss exhibited. But there was a bigger question lingering.

"Lynn," Kataro spoke. "I've known you for a long time, and not once did you mention any brother. Are you certain he's who he claims to be?" The stressed chef nodded. "I don't know why he's here, but he is, and he's not going away until he's done eating. He says he can explain everything, so he'd better talk fast." By this point, the casserole was done cooling and the chef grabbed a plate before scooping a generous portion onto it. He then placed that on the tray before taking a peek through the open kitchen into the dining room.

There, seated only meters away, was the tall suited man. The last chicken wing was hanging from his mouth when he noticed that the chef was looking at him. His face was lightly smeared with red sauce, which Avery took the time to remove the lone wing from his teeth to wipe off the spicy liquid. "Main course is ready I hope? Can't wait," he called with a smile. He also held up an empty glass, letting the staff know he wanted a refill of root beer. With a look of resignation, Lynn Sr. grabbed the tray before stepping out into the quiet front of house to serve his estranged brother.

Meanwhile at the Sharp Family Home…

Two teenagers, Samantha Sharp, who lived there, and her best friend Luna Loud, were in the garage jamming on their instruments. The two girls were pretty close, almost passionately so. In fact, Luna had recently confessed to her fellow rock music enthusiast that she had feelings for her. They had already had what could be called their first official date at the town's Astonishing Quest, a scavenger hunt. They discovered just how little they had in common outside of music, but both vowed to give each other a chance.

Just when they were really getting into a song, a shaggy blonde haired boy stepped out in front of them. "Hey sis," he called out, not getting her attention the first time. "YO SAM," he gave with everything he had. That did the trick, as both girls stopped playing and turned off their amps. "Simon, what do you want?" the blonde girl said, irked.

"Mom says to keep it down, she's trying to work on something important." His eyes then shifted to the other teen, who was covering her mouth to muffle a laugh. The boy couldn't hide his embarrassment at losing his patience in front of the pretty older girl. "Oh, hey Luna," he said as he rubbed the back of his head. "My mom didn't say anything about you, so, I guess you can play as loud as you want."

Luna set her guitar down in its stand, before walking over to the younger boy. She kneeled down in front of him, and placed a hand on his cheek. "Simon," she said with a smile. "Does Mrs. Sharp even know I'm here? Or are you just trying to flirt?" Simon looked like he could faint at any moment, so Sam spoke up.

"Fine Simon, we'll just take our music elsewhere." Luna got out of her crouching position and stood beside Sam. "Why don't you come with us little dude," the sole brunette offered. "I'm sure the ladies will go bonkers for a man with a cowbell and shades." Simon blushed so hard you'd swear he gets sunburned easily. He opened his mouth to respond, but an angry voice spoke for him.

"SIMON OLIVER SHARP," it came from inside the house. A window then opened on the second floor to reveal a woman with hair like Sam and Simon's. She was wearing a purple bathrobe and had a face as red as her son did. "It doesn't take that long to tell your sister to put a plug on the noise. Now get your keister back inside, you still have summer school to finish."

"Guess that's a NO on the shades and cowbell, huh?" Luna said with a down look. "It's OK Mrs. Sharp, Sam and I were just going to toddle off someplace else and let you do your job," she said with a wave. Mrs. Sharp said nothing, instead pulling her head back into the house while she pointed at Simon, then the front door. Dejected, the soon to be Middle-schooler dragged his feet back towards his house, as the two older girls packed up their equipment and walked towards the sidewalk.

"So which way?" they both said at the same time. "How about that way?" again, in tandem, this time pointing in opposite directions. They both laughed at the double jinx before remembering a place loud enough to not stand out. "Let's go to my house," Luna said. "I have some new equipment we can try out so that we won't be a bother to everybody else, but can still rock out hard."

"Sound's great, and I can't wait to see your family again." And so it went, both teens set out in the direction of the Loud House, smiles plastered on their faces. However, it can get boring just walking and not being able to play music, so the girls got to talking. "So, your family seems really cool with me," the blonde rocker stated. "Even if we haven't kissed yet or anything, they seem alright with you being, well... you."

"Yeah, they can see how awesome you are, both in general and to me," she replied. It was then that a thought entered her mind. "Hey, why don't you come by the house more often and help me look after my little sisters? Lori won't be around forever and we could use all the help we can, since, you know, Leni can be a major pushover and isn't exactly Fit to Serve as new Lori." They both chuckled. "I'll see what I can do," the girl with the teal streak said. Then, Luna's words began to echo in her mind, and a question soon formulated.

"You said younger sister's Lunes," she began. "What about that cute brother of yours; Lincoln was it?" As Sam continued walking, Luna's pace slowed to a crawl, and Sam realized it immediately. "Hey, what's up?" she asked, doubling back to see Luna staring into space, as if the weight of her guitar was pinning her to the ground.

"I honestly don't know, I haven't seen little dude much for weeks," she spoke in a depressed tone. "He comes to dinner when called, but whenever we ask him about his day or anything, he just gives very basic answers like, 'Same old life' or 'busy as a man can be.' He doesn't even want to hang out with me like he used to," she said as Sam placed her amp down to give the upset teen a hug. "I'm sorry Lunes, that doesn't sound like Lincoln at all from what you've told me about him."

Being embraced by her love interest did little to soothe the pain in Luna's heart. She knew deep down why Lincoln was acting this way, but felt that admitting it would be the death of her. "Luna," Sam's voice broke through the fog the brunette was currently in. "Do you have any idea why Lincoln could be acting like that?" Just looking into her eyes, the blonde girl knew that Luna was holding back. Luna looked back into Sam's eyes, they were so pretty, so trusting. She couldn't keep something like this from the girl of her dreams, so out the secret came.

"Well," she said with a sigh, unsure what would happen once she spilled everything. "You know how me and Lincoln and our sisters went to that comic convention a while back?" Sam nodded before turning and walking to her amp, picking it up. "You can tell me everything, but let's start walking, ok."

Luna rushed to keep up with Sam, then continued her tale. "So, in the end we all got to be in this Ace Savvy movie Lincoln told us about, even if comics were…"

"Not really your thing," Sam finished as though it was a secret joke between them. "Yeah, they're not my thing either, or Simon's for that matter." She motioned for Luna to continue. "The thing is, while me and my sisses went as these characters that Lincoln created for a comic contest a while back, Lincoln just went as, Ace Savvy, nothing too special. That's why he wanted us to come with, to share in the glory."

"I get the feeling you hurt him somehow," she said before quickly putting her arms up in defense. "By complete accident I'm sure, but, I bet he's mad at you and your sisters."

"Sam, no offense but I really don't need a judge right now, more like a defense attorney who will hear me out." Sam pressed two of her fingers together before running them the length of her lips. She then gestured for Luna to continue, uninterrupted.

"Anyway, I guess we got carried away with how much attention everybody was giving us, so we completely abandoned Lincoln to get a bunch of photos, without him. Even though us going was his idea in the first place." Luna looked as though she was about to start bawling, but took a deep breath before continuing. "The worst part is that apparently we were good enough to get into the movie, while Lincoln and his 'antics' only drove him further from impressing the judges."

By now, the Loud House was coming into view, and so was the noise level it was so famous for. Luna didn't say another word until she and Sam reached the garage. "I guess to make a long and bummer story short. Lincoln did something really bone-headed and we had to save him from himself, like always." She grabbed two folding chairs from the back, setting them both up and sitting down in one, while Sam occupied the remaining one.

"It was then that the judges thought that Lincoln had done something honorable and told him he won, leaving all of our efforts for nothing." By now Sam had a look of confusion on her face, but let Luna explain further. "But," she said with a small smile. "He… told the truth, about how he didn't deserve to win because he was the one who got himself into a bad situation, and we were the ones who had his back. We were so happy, at least… until I flew into the rafters with my jetpack, again." Luna covered her face as Sam covered hers in an attempt to stop laughing.

"Hey, I thought I said no judging."

"I never said anything," she smirked. "Giggling isn't talking."

Luna held her fist out in mock anger, before falling into a fit of giggles herself. The teens laughed until Sam ceased in order to ask the million dollar question. "So, why are you so torn up about it? It sounds like everybody got what they deserved." Luna breathed deeply, thinking very carefully about how to explain things. Finally she spoke.

"Well, let's just say that Lincoln has a habit of sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, but he not only apologizes for it, he also grows from the experience. I don't think he's taking the rejection that well, I mean, I'd be pissed too if I had to scoop cat poop for too long."

"Cat poop?" Sam said as she tilted her head. Luna clarified her statement. "I mean, he does get to be in the movie, but it'll be as a bad guy I guess, since he did a bad thing."

"Have you tried talking to him? You might feel better if you let him know how you feel."

"I wish I could, but ever since the convention he's either been holed up in his room or staying after school for whatever reason. When school ended, he went to stay at his buddy Clyde's house, that was three days ago, I still don't think he's home." Luna stood up, then walked out of the garage and towards the front door. Suddenly, she stopped and turned around to look at Sam.

"Sorry Sammy, but I don't feel like playing music anymore today," she said with a sad glance. "Do you want to come inside, I'm sure my sisters would like to see you?" Sam then rose from her seat as well, before following her love interest into the house with a calming smile, not saying a word the whole time.

The moment the front door was opened, chaos spilled out into the streets as the screams of the Loud children almost pushed the rockers to the ground with how powerful it was. Luckily, even Sam was used to loud noises with how much she played music, so recovering didn't take long. Both girls walked through the front door, where the occupants of the couch, Lucy and the twins, were watching "Operation Dessert Storm," one of the few TV programs the whole house enjoyed.

The three little girls looked to the disturbance in front of them, but were immediately awestruck at the return of their older sister and especially her 'girlfriend.' "Luna and Sam," they cheered. Even the normally sullen Lucy wasted no time in running up to the blonde teen and hugging her, albeit without a smile like her younger sisters. Instead, she spoke first.

"Sam, I've been working on a poem just for you," she announced while taking out a piece of paper from her dress pocket. "Want to hear it?" Sam was still getting used to the spooky little girl and her 'grave' outlook on life, but she was still Luna's little sister, and so felt the need to indulge her. "Sure, Lucy, maybe they'll make rockin lyrics." If you looked close enough, you'd swear there was a hint of a smile on the young girls face.

**Her hair is blonde like fields of wheat**

It was a good start.

**Has a face that's cute enough to eat**

Getting creepy.

**She jams as loud as –**

Before she could finish that sentence, the phone rang in the dining room. Luna rushed to answer it. "Hold that thought Luce," she said as she picked up the receiver. "Loud residence, you're talking to the loudest Loud of all."

"Oh, Luna," said the familiar voice on the other end. "It's mom sweetie, I need you to start dinner for me and your father." That was odd, even after Lynn's Table opened, their father still had the energy and time to return home to cook for his family. "Luna?" the mother called out in an anxious voice. "The recipe for the chicken thighs is on the fridge, I need you to make 30 of them plus some vegetables."

"30? That's a lot of chickies for just 12 people ma," the purple clad teen replied. "Actually, it's 14 people honey. I need you to call your brother and tell him it's time to come home. You're father and I want to have a talk with him." There was still one person unaccounted towards. "Mom, there's 13 in our band, did you say 14 by mistake?"

"No dear," the mother of 11 replied in a low voice. "We're having a guest tonight, just one, so any friends you and the girls have over are going to have to leave before dinner. I'll be home shortly, but I need you to do those two things for me, please?" Luna may have given off a rebellious vibe with her clothes and love of rock n roll, but she was nothing if not a good daughter. "Yes mom, I gotcha."

The phone went dead, and Luna hung up. She returned to the living room to greet her family and best friend. "Well Sammy, looks like our time together for the day is short. My mom is coming home soon and I need to make dinner." Sam looked downcast as the news, but perked up upon realizing something. "Y'know," she said with a grin. "Baking might not be our thing, but it's not the same as cooking, why don't I help you out?"

"Are you sure? Mom says you can't stay. Apparently we have a guest coming over so you wont be able to taste what you cook."

"That's cool," she said with a smile. She turned to face the couch occupants. "Hey you guys, how'd you like to help in the kitchen?" The excitement from the young trio, even Lucy, couldn't be contained if you tried. All three rushed into the kitchen to wash their hands, not saying a word.

"You go supervise, the recipe is on the fridge, I gotta make a quick phone call," Luna ordered Sam, who saluted with a look of seriousness before turning and guffawing at her little act. "_Even when she's not being goofy, she's adorable,"_ Luna thought to herself as she fished out her phone. She scrolled through her list of contacts until she landed on the one name she wished was here at the moment. She dialed the number, which beeped a few times before going to voicemail and leaving this message for Luna.

**You've reached the phone of Lincoln Loud**

**I'm unable to pick up the phone, either because I'm busy or I don't feel like talking.**

**And if this is one of my sisters, don't bother leaving me a message since I'm sure you only want something from me, but don't really NEED me.**

**Anybody else, feel free to humor me by leaving a message and I'll get back to you soon enough.**

**Thanks, (grunt).**

Luna was dumbfounded by this message, which sounded nothing like her brother. Still, she couldn't hesitate for too long, as another voice had just finished telling her to leave her message after the beep.

**Hey Link. ****It's your sister Luna. Listen bro, I … We haven't seen you in God knows how long. **

**Mom wants you to come home, so you'd better do what she says.**

**If I don't see you or hear back from you in an hour, I'm coming over to Clyde's place**

**And I will drag you back here by your ankles if I must.**

Luna took a moment to breathe, as she was starting to gain an audience from not just the kitchen dwellers, but also from the sisters upstairs.

**Anyway, I love you Lincoln. We love you, and I want to make things OK between us again.**

**So please call me back, or somebody.**

Luna pressed the 'end call' key on her phone before collapsing into a nearby chair. This was starting to get serious.

Back at Lynn's Table

The chef was finished locking up for the day as his employees Grant and Kataro were heading home. "I'll see you at home Lori," he told his daughter as he walked in the opposite direction towards a black Ferrari Portofino, driven by none other than his successful brother Avery. Lynn Sr got into the sports car, where Avery immediately started talking.

"Alright, so, we're getting a large tub of mashed potatoes, several bottles of sparkling grape juice, and the biggest cake we can find," he reminded his brother, who simply nodded. However, Avery wasn't done talking as he started the engine and roared out of the parking lot. "Lynn, I really appreciate this. Thank you for understanding."

"You're not in the clear yet," he replied sternly. "I won't completely forgive you until Rita forgives you. This whole thing involved her more than me." The dapper looking gentleman gave his brother a smile, then turned back towards the road, where it slowly dissolved into slight panic.

Lori was still in the parking lot, on her phone with Leni to tell her the updated plans. "So yes, I'm on my way to get you now, so please remember where the entrance is this time."

"_Darnit Lori, I'm not stupid. Besides, my friends are here to help me just in case."_

Lori sighed into her free hand before continuing her conversation. "OK Leni, just promise me you'll be on your best behavior at dinner. I'll try to divert any hard questions away from you."

"_Cool, I can't wait to meet Uncle Avery. I love meeting new people. Bye, Lori"_

Lori's phone clicked off, and she started the aging engine to Vanzilla. She knew her way to the mall by heart, so a guide from her phone wasn't necessary. Lori's heart began to fill with dread, as the story she heard not too long ago might change Leni's perspective on things. Even if it was a different time then.

**A/N: So we've kinda heard from Lincoln now. In case it wasn't already obvious, this can be considered an AU fic. I considered releasing this chapter on Sunday after 'Deep Cuts' airs, just in case Sam does make an appearance and her relationship with Luna becomes stronger. There's also the announcement of the cat sitting episode 'Purrfect Gig,' which also might make this chapter look somewhat foolish. Saluna aside, they announced today two more episodes where both Clyde and Lynn will have their own love interest episodes. This does not hinder my future plans for this story, again because, AU. Bye now!**


	4. Avery part 4

**So this chapter is coming out a day after the first anniversary of "Home of the Fave," one of the inspirations for this fanfic. I would like to thank DreadedCandiru2 for his continued advice after every chapter thus far. I will continue to write this story whether my base is big or not. I don't own The Loud House, I just think it's really cool.**

Luna sat in her chair like a drunkard, completely baffled at how her sweet little brother could act so cold. How did she not predict this would happen? She would have kept stewing in thought if her best friend didn't shake her out of her thoughts.

"Lunes? Luuunes? We need your help in here."

Luna shook her head furiously before responding. "Whuh, how long was I out of it?"

"Not long, but you do seem stressed from that phone call. You want to talk about it?" The brunette stood up and straightened her clothes. "Nah, I just need to keep busy." Sam smiled at her best friend and both walked hand in hand into the kitchen.

A little while later

The dinner that night was chicken thighs in a sweet basil glaze with a vegetable medley and, unbeknownst to the Loud House at the time, mashed potatoes with sparkling grape juice to drink, and for dessert, some cake. Luna and Sam, with help from Lucy, Lana, and Lola, had just finished glazing the many chicken thighs when Rita walked through the door.

"Kids, I'm home," she called before making her way into the dining room to check on dinner. When she saw Sam, she immediately went to speak with her. "Hello Sam, did you help with dinner?"

"Yep, I couldn't leave Luna to do all that work alone, and the twins plus Lucy were more than happy to assist." Rita said "Thank you Sam, why don't you take a couple chicken thighs home with you, we should have enough left over for tonight." Luna then placed the 30 chicken thighs onto two baking sheets and placed both into the oven. "Okay Mom, main course in heating up as we speak."

"That's great honey, just don't forget to cut two of them into small pieces so that Lily can eat hers if she chooses," Rita said with a smile before embracing her younger daughters. She then stepped out of the room, beckoning Luna to follow. "Sam, the veggies are in the freezer, get the big pot's out and let them steam," Luna asked Sam, who simply nodded.

In the living room, mother and daughter sat on the couch. Rita then spoke, "Luna, did you call your brother like I asked?" Luna nodded sadly, catching her mothers concern. "What did he say, did you get through to him?"

Luna sighed. "I got his voicemail, but he didn't sound happy in it. I did leave a message telling him he needs to come home, that it's very important. But that was 45 minutes ago, he still hasn't called or texted me back saying he was on his way."

As if by magic, Luna's phone dinged, indicating a message was sent. Excitedly, Luna pulled her phone out of her pocket to check its content. However, her heart sank almost immediately.

**Lori: **Hey sis, just picked up Leni from work, heading home now

Luna looked at her mother sadly. "It's only Lori." Rita looked just as downtrodden as her daughter. She thought back to the last few months and how her son had been acting differently. "It's alright sweetie, I'm sure Lincoln still loves you and your sisters, he just needs more time."

At hearing this, Luna looked right into her mothers eyes. "How much? It's like the Lincoln we all know and love doesn't exist anymore," she said in an exasperated tone. Luna then remembered the voicemail message Lincoln had made, and moved to call him again. "Just listen ma."

After several dial tones, the same message from earlier played for Rita, who crossed her arms and said "He does sound mad, but he's still my son, and I'll be damned if he refuses to listen to me." Then Rita fished her own phone out of her pocket and dialed her only boy's number. After the same angry message from Lincoln played for the third time that day, Rita left a message of her own.

**Lincoln honey, it's Mom. Pick up the phone and talk to me.**

**You never said that you'd ignore your mother, so this is concerning.**

**Dinner is going to be ready in an hour, so you'd better find your way home**

**Don't let whatever Luna said discourage you, I'M your mother, not her**

The anger in Rita's voice was starting to put off the rocker to her left. So a more neutral tone was struck.

**Sweetheart, I'm not mad. I just miss you so much. We need to talk.**

**It'll just be me and your father with you. Your sisters will stay away.**

**I love you, please call me back or text me when you're leaving**

The call ended, and Rita covered her face in grief. "This is all my fault."

Meanwhile, not far away 

The McBride household stood still and quiet. In the bedroom of the home's sole child was Clyde McBride and his best friend Lincoln Loud. The two had just finished listening to the voicemails from both Luna and Rita. Throughout both, Lincoln held a look of contempt towards leaving for home.

"They sound genuine Lincoln," the young black kid stated. "I wouldn't want to receive the ire of anybody, not even L-L-L..."

"CLYDE," the other boy shouted. "Now is not the time to be swooning, I need to find an excuse to stay out longer, what ideas do you have for me?" Clyde, a bit shaken by the outburst, was suddenly made more skittish by the entrance of his father Harold.

"What's with the yelling Lincoln? Is everything OK?," he asked. "Everything is fine Mister McBride, just a small disagreement," he responded. Harold smiled at the news, then turned a solemn face. "Lincoln, it's not that we don't like having you, but I'm afraid that you won't be able to eat with us tonight again."

The news sent the deadpan boy into a state of disbelief. "But.. But..?" The grown man held out his palm to shush the boy. "My decision is final, as is my husband's. I'm sorry Lincoln, you'd better get your things together, we're going to eat soon." The man turned away and left for who knows where.

"Guess you have to go after all," Clyde said sadly. "C'mon, I'll help you get your things." Lincoln moved slowly off the floor and towards his overnight bag. The man with the plan was feeling... hopeless.

Back at the Loud House

Vanzilla was pulling into the driveway. Lori and Leni stepped out and walked up to their home. "Remember Leni, let Uncle Avery explain himself to everybody," the eldest sister lightly scolded. "Just go to your happy place, and stay there until he shows up with dad, kay?"

"Like, OK Lori," the bubbly blonde replied. With that assurance, the two stepped through the door. The first thing they saw was their mother and Luna on the couch, the latter comforting the former. "Okaaay, what did we miss?"

Both mother and daughter looked up at the returned blondes. "We're waiting for Lincoln to contact us," Luna explained. "Mom wants him home tonight, and he's playing possum with our feelings." Upon hearing their little brother's name, both blondes couldn't help but grin, Leni more so than Lori. "Linky's coming home? Hooray!" the bubble head shouted, gaining the attention of all those home.

The first down the steps was, unsurprisingly, Lynn Jr. She was followed by Luan, who was holding Lily, and finally Lisa. The tiniest Loud couldn't help but giggle at the mention of her only brother. "Lickin!," she cooed.

"That's what we're hoping for honey," the matriarch said softly to nobody in particular. Just then, a phone went off; but whose? Everybody pulled their phones out, sans Lily, and checked. It was coming from… Leni's phone. "It's Linky," she gasped. The whole room stood still, before the dimmest girl answered the call.

"L-Linky?" she said nervously. "(sigh)I'm coming home Leni, don't send anybody," an exhausted voice that came through the receiver said quickly. "Put it on speaker phone dear," Rita ordered. "We all want to hear his voice." Before she could however, the line went dead.

"Well?," the whole family asked. "Is he coming home?" Leni nodded sadly.

"He'd better not be bullshitting us," Lynn Jr piped up. "LYNN," Luan shouted before covering Lily's ears. "Not cool, or hot." They might have kept on arguing if the sound of a sports car engine hadn't alerted them to the front of the house.

Lynn Sr and Avery pulled into the driveway behind Vanzilla. True to their plans, Lynn had a large cake on his lap with the lettering "**To New Beginning's" **printed on off-white frosting. "I'll get the passenger door for you, brother." Avery turned off the engine, stepped out of his car, and walked over to let the chef out. "Need a hand?," he offered, taking the monster of a confection into his grasp. "I got this, why don't you grab the other things in the trunk?"

Lynn Sr climbed out, and headed to the now open trunk to retrieve the mashed potatoes and sparkling juice. Avery walked up to the front door, hands full. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar looking figure, but paid it no mind as he had bigger issues to respond to. Just as he reached the door, he was about to bang his head to get a response, but it opened almost immediately. He was greeted by the face he was dreading seeing.

"I'll take this," Rita said. Avery handed the massive treat over to her. She caught a glimpse at the message, before shaking her head in frustration. "We'll see about that," before handing the cake off to one of her older daughters. "Stay inside girls, and that cake had better be in mint condition when I get back" she ordered before closing the door. She then looked at Avery. "We'll talk right here," she demanded angrily. Lynn Sr had the mashed potatoes and bottles in a large cardboard box. "Hey honey," he called out. "Could you open the door for me? There's more to bring in."

"Come up to the porch first, Lynn, I don't want the girls to see him just yet." The patriarch ran up to the stoop with his cardboard box. Rita opened the door again, and grabbed the box from her husband before setting it down inside and closing the door again.

"You know Lynn, I think it's very poor taste to have a garden gnome that looks like Grandma Harriet," Avery said abruptly. The couple looked at the guest with confusion. "We don't have a garden gnome," Lynn said matter of factly. "What are you talking about?" his wife followed. Avery pointed to a nearby bush were he saw the figure just a moment ago, but it was gone.

"Heh, that's queer," he said with a nervous smile. "I'm probably just-"

"You must be the special guest!" a soft, deadpan voice said suddenly. The trio, especially Avery, jumped in surprise. "That's it, that's what I saw," the professionally dressed man exclaimed, pointing to the little girl who just materialized. "LUCY," both of her parents yelled, though Rita might have been a tad quieter than her husband. Lucy ignored her parents and stepped forward to greet Avery, glum face and all.

"Are you a psychiatrist?" she asked. "You must be here to help Lincoln." Avery was still stuck in place. This little girl, no matter how familiar to him, was still off-putting. "Who are you?" he asked as he pulled himself together and got down on one knee. "Sigh, I'm Lucy Loud, I live here, I suppose."

Lynn stepped forward to stand between the two. "Avery, this is your niece." A tear came to Avery's eye as he continued to stare at the little girl. "Lucy," he said as he held out his arms. "You're so beautiful." He then remembered what he'd said just a moment ago and rushed to ease the damage.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you a garden gnome, can you forgive me?" Lucy just looked at the well dressed gentleman before her. "Niece?" she thought. "Are you… an uncle?" she asked. Rita didn't want Lucy outside much longer, so she hurried things along. "Yes sweetie, this is your Uncle Avery. You can ask him questions later, go inside with your father and finish making dinner." Her voice was stern, bordering on authoritarian. Lynn and Lucy wasted no time rushing inside, leaving the In-Laws alone.

"Sit!" Rita ordered, pointing to the steps. Avery breathed a heavy sigh, then followed her, sitting inches away. "Why did you do it?" she demanded. Avery knew the time had come, he had already explained himself to his brother, but confessing to Rita was going to be a whole other headache.

"I'll… tell you everything."

The moment Lucy and Lynn Sr entered their home, they were bombarded with questions.

"Who is that?"

"Is that our special guest?"

"Why doesn't he come inside?"

"Where's Mom?"

It was getting to the point that Lynn Sr had no clue who was asking what. In the confusion, Sam stepped out from the kitchen to greet the returning man of the house. "Hey Mr. Loud, dinner is almost ready," the streaked girl said with a grin. "These basil sauce chicken thighs look delicious. Mrs. Loud said I could have a couple to take home." Leni and Lori were not aware that Sam was around, and their first reaction at seeing their potential in-law was the typical…

"EEEEEE SAM," they cheered together, as Luna looked downward in embarrassment. "Did you cook tonight's dinner? That is so romantic!" Luna got up from the couch to break their spirits.

"Look dudes, Sam can't stay because of our other guest; Mom said so." The faces on the blondes changed so quickly you'd swear they were slapped in the face. "Ahhhh man." Sam walked out into the living room to give her piece.

"It's OK guys," she said assuringly. "If it's alright with your pop-star, and my parents, I can come over more often and keep an eye on the munchkins while you're at work." She looked right at Lynn Sr. "Deal?" she asked.

Lynn Sr. pondered for a moment, while his daughters gave him puppy dog eyes. _Damn th__ese kids are masters at emotional blackmail__, _he thought. "Alright, fine, but only if you're not needed at home," he relented. "Speaking of which, you should probably get on your way," he added. "Dinner will be ready soon, won't it?"

Sam nodded, and the room fell into pandemonium with the good news. Sam walked to the couch and gave her best friend a tight hug. "Maybe I'll see you tomorrow, pal." The blushing on Luna's cheeks wouldn't go away for anything. Then Sam whispered into Luna's ear. "Good luck with your brother." The blushing remained, but Luna's mood shifted considerably.

"Go out the kitchen door, Sam," Lynn Sr. told the blonde rocker. "Mrs. Loud is having a private conversation with our guest." Sam nodded accordingly. After waving goodbye to everybody, and even giving a few hugs to those who asked, Sam entered the kitchen, the smell of basil filling her nostrils. That reminded her to grab a plastic container from a nearby cupboard, and fill it with two chicken thighs that were cooling on the stove. She exited the fragrant room and into the backyard, before turning to her right and walking around to the garage to get her guitar and amp.

She heard whispers from the front porch, but paid them no mind out of respecting privacy. She power walked to the left side of both vehicles in the driveway to hide her exit. It wasn't long before she was headed directly home, the Loud House shrinking with each step. Directly in front of her in the distance, she could make out the form of a young boy wearing a hoodie, slowly trotting forward, face down. An overnight bag hung over his shoulder.

"Is that who I think it is?" she thought. She hurried up to the figure, calling out to it. "Lincoln? Lincoln, is that you?" The small figure stopped briefly, then quickened its pace out of fear. Sam stepped to the side and stopped as the figure continued to look at the ground. "I thought so," she said with a sad look. When the figure was feet away from her, she grabbed it by the shoulder, refusing to let go.

"NO, let me go," it said weakly in a young male voice. After a few seconds, the boy stopped struggling and looked up at the teenager. "Sam? What do you want?" he demanded as he finally ripped his arm away from her. There were tear streaks on his face, but it wasn't red, so he must not have cried for long. Looking at her best friends' little brother brought back memories of her own brother, Simon.

"Lincoln, were you just heading home?" she asked in a sweet voice. Lincoln didn't say anything, but turned to leave. Sam reached out for him again, pulling him into a hug. The embrace didn't seem to phase him, he just stood there limp. "Look," she whispered into his ear. "If you don't want to talk about what you're going through, at least talk to Luna. She loves you so much." She separated from the boy, looking right into his eyes. "Promise?" she asked sternly. Unconvincingly, Lincoln nodded, and would have walked away immediately if the teen didn't shock him with a kiss on the forehead. It lasted for several seconds, but it was enough to ignite something in Lincoln.

"Thanks, Sam," he said with a smile that vanished as quickly as it appeared. He hurried in the direction he was going previously. Sam stood there a moment longer looking at the shrinking figure, smiled, then continued her journey home.

**A/N: Next chapter will be the biggest I've written to date, so I apologize if it takes longer than the one chapter a week standard I've set for myself. I really want to get it right, and when you do see it, you'll understand. To mark its eventual release, I will post the announcement on my Twitter account(My first tweet on said new account), which you can find in my 'lacking' bio page. Until then, be gracious to one another.**


	5. Questions answered part 1

**Here it is, the longest chapter I've written to date, and it would have been longer if I didn't decide to split it into two parts for the sake of suspense. In this chapter and next, your questions are finally answered. As I've said many times before, I don't own The Loud House, or any other licensed properties mentioned in this chapter, I just think they're really cool.**

It didn't take long for Lincoln to reach his home. It was strangely… quiet, though. The porch was empty, and the sounds he came to know and expect were nowhere to be heard. On top of that, there was a black sports car parked behind Vanzilla.

"What the hell is that doing there," he thought. He continued his trek up to the front door, pressing his ear against the wood. There were sounds emanating from the other side, but they felt…. confused?

Taking a deep breath, Lincoln prepared to reenter the lives of the family he'd been more than happy to avoid. He reached for the doorknob, but paused at the thought of his 'perfect' sisters. It made him sick to his stomach, but then the thought of Sam flashed through his mind. She seemed sure that Luna loved him and was on his side. That was enough for him to timidly turn the knob…

And thrust the door open before he changed his mind. He was met with an unusual sight, his whole family plus a tan suited bald man with a black, fine-trimmed beard sitting in a circle in the living room. He didn't have time to protect his ears before the first squeals came.

"LINCOLN, You're home," cried Leni as she got up from her seated position and ran to embrace her brother. Thinking quickly, Lincoln got into a crouching position before laying onto his side against the door. It would be hard to hug a stubborn rock like him. Leni slowed her pace at her brother's odd behavior. "Is this a new internet challenge?" she asked.

Rita and Lynn Sr wasted no time getting up next to speak to their only son. "Welcome home honey," the mother said with a smile. "We missed you sport," Lynn Sr added, crouching to help Lincoln out of his awkward formation. Lincoln immediately clung to the legs of his father, not wanting to be bombarded with questions from his 'sisters.' Avery stood next, walking up to the returned Loud and extending his arm.

"You must be Lincoln," the charming man began. "I'm your-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before Lincoln interrupted him. "Are you a therapist or something?" he said somewhat bitterly. "Because you look like a doctor." One sister who didn't hear Lincoln's voicemail was quick to correct him.

"Lincoln bro, this guy is our uncle," Lynn Jr. announced.

Lincoln stared at the visitor with intent, trying to find any familiarity that would make it obvious the man was indeed family. He was however, jolted out of his trance when Avery spoke up again. "It's true Lincoln, I am your uncle," he said as he pulled out a business card from his wallet. He handed the small rectangle to the hoodie wearing boy, who examined it with lidded eyes.

_Dr. Avery Loud-Coleman_

_Carlyle and Associates_

_OB-GYN MD_

"I doubt you'll have a need for that," the doctor stated matter of factly. "But you and Lucy were close, I am a doctor." Lincoln then read the card out loud to everybody in the room, which brought varying reactions. The oldest five sisters, who knew what an OB-GYN does, blushed and turned away from their returned uncle. The oldest child broke the silence.

"Sooo, you're married I suppose," noting the hyphenated surname. She already knew where this conversation was going, having learned everything at Lynn's Table two hours earlier. Still, she was a firm believer in not speaking for other people, at least, if they were older than her.

The rest of the room excluding the adults stood waiting for a reply from the doctor. It was Lola who hurried the tense silence away. "So what's her name?" Avery just smiled, not the least bit offended at the assumption she'd made. "Maurice," he replied.

"Maurice!" the room erupted in a confused cacophony before settling down in understanding. "You're..?" Avery nodded. "Gay, yes. I would have brought him with me, but he's in Germany right now."

"What does he do?"

"He's a farmer, and we live on a beautiful several hundred acre property out in Hazeltucky." Lincoln would have kept on listening if his mind didn't wander back to why his parents needed him home. He tugged on his father's pant leg to quietly get his attention. "Dad?" he whispered. The patriarch looked down at his son. "What's up?"

"Mom said you and her wanted to talk to me about something," he said in an almost nervous deadpan. "Can we talk about it right now while this guy has the girls distracted?" Lynn Sr looked to his wife, mouthing the question her. Rita slowly nodded and motioned with her hand to the room.

"Alright girls, feel free to ask your Uncle Avery whatever you want," she announced. "Me and your father need to talk with Lincoln, so don't you dare eavesdrop." She looked to her brother-in-law before nodding at seemingly nothing. Avery knew what that meant. Lynn Sr then led his son into the master bedroom, Rita following closely behind before quietly shutting the door.

"So do you come to Royal Woods often?" asked Luan. Avery shook his head; "Only about once a year," his voice starting to falter. "To put flowers on mom's grave."

In the master bedroom

"Why don't you take your hoodie off sweetie?" Rita requested. Lincoln responded by tightening the strings, leaving only his nose and mouth exposed. He shook his head in defiance. "Alright then, but you'd better keep that thing on the entire time mister," Lynn Sr scolded.

Lincoln let the overnight bag on his shoulder fall to the ground before climbing onto the bed between his parents. "Sooo, what is this about?" Lynn Sr and Rita looked at each other for a moment before dropping what Lincoln was certain was going to be a bombshell.

"Lincoln, why didn't you tell us you'd made the honor roll?" his mother asked with concern. Lincoln was shocked by this revelation, but said nothing. Lynn Sr dug into the side table drawer, pulling out a manilla envelope. He undid the metal butterfly clasp and turned the envelope until an orange piece of paper as wide as the envelope slipped out. "This came in the mail while you were gone."

_Lincoln Loud_

_Royal Woods Elementary School_

_Spring Semester Honor Roll_

Looking at his parents, Lincoln just shrugged. "It's not a big deal, just a slip of paper," he said, turning to look at the floor. "It's not like it's worth displaying in a cabinet or anything." The two adults couldn't be sure, but they thought Lincoln was referring to the trophy case in the dining room. It had been a bit of a contentious issue for Lincoln to watch the case fill up with awards that weren't his. He'd even gone so far as to invade the privacy of his sisters just to win a video contest many months ago. _Seriously, a stupid hamster, this world is going to crap._

"Honey," the mother assured her son. "We've been over this; Just because you don't have as many trophies as any of your sisters doesn't mean we love you any less or are any less proud of you."

"Look sport," Lynn Sr contributed. "If there's one thing I know now, it's that resenting your family isn't worth the effort." Lynn Sr fought back emotion as he remembered the talk he'd had with his brother only hours earlier. "It's one thing to be jealous, it's another thing to let it cloud your judgement. I know that you know that your sisters mean the absolute world to you, and that you'd never intentionally hurt them."

Lincoln looked up at his father, his face (or what could be seen) was completely blank while the older man flashed a warm smile. "Maybe so, but it's not like they need me to do something they couldn't do themselves, or ask another sister to do" he spoke in a deadpan voice. He then looked to the door of his parents bedroom, hearing the muffled voice of his uncle speaking. Turning back towards his parents, he took a deep breath before dropping a secret he swore to keep.

"The truth is, I didn't clog the toilet last year like I told you I did," he admitted. "I was only looking out for Lucy, who was the real owner of that book. She didn't ask me to, I just thought it was the right thing to do." Rita and Lynn moved to hug their son, who didn't react to the sudden intrusion of space.

"It was a sweet thing to do honey," Rita said. "You must be upset that you missed that convention you were looking so forward to." Upon hearing that, Lincoln crawled away from his parents to the other side of the bed, keeping the remainder of his face hidden. When neither Lynn Sr or Rita made a move to reach him, he continued pouring his heart.

"And now, with what happened this year, I don't think I want to hear the words 'Ace Savvy' ever again." The boy grabbed both sides of his head and squeezed in anger. "Why is it every time there's a schism in this family, it's always me against the rest of them? Why can't some of them ever take my side on things?"

"Lincoln, I think you really need to talk with your sisters. We'll be right behind you the whole time, so don't hold back from your grievances, we won't let them hurt you." Lincoln placed his hands to his face, blocking his view of the world around him. He breathed deeply before sighing and jumping off the bed. He then turned to his parents and nodded. "Let's just get this over with," the muffled voice replied.

Loud House Living Room

"Wow, that's gotta be the saddest story I've ever heard." The entire room was on the verge of tears, even Avery, who'd already told his story twice that day. "I can't believe you kissed mommy," Lola said. "Even if it was just an accident." At that moment, the door to the master bedroom creaked open, and out stepped a fully hooded Lincoln and his parents.

"Girls, your brother has some things he'd like to share with you," Rita announced to the room. "After, he takes his hood off." Lincoln slowly walked to the front of the room and stood with the television at his back. He breathed and exhaled deeply with his head down, then looked directly at his family before taking the entire hoodie off of his body. When the red 'Royal Woods Elementary School' lettering had disappeared beneath the crumpled grey mass, the family was left staring at the bandage ridden scalp of the (formerly) white haired boy.

Mouths dropped open, and nobody said a word for several seconds. The silence was then broken by the shrill scream of Rita Loud. "MY BABY, WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Lincoln couldn't help but laugh. "That's how it always is, right? It's always my fault when things don't go as planned." The family just looked at him all confused, Avery was scratching the sleeves of his dress shirt. "If you must know, I did shave my head, because I figured all the great villains in media are bald. Lex Luthor, Elmer Fudd, heck, even Darth Vader when they took his helmet off."

Who… was… this… boy? Luna spoke first. "Dude, who told you you're a villain?"

"Nobody did," he yelled. "Isn't it obvious though, I screw up everything I try at, and my only real 'talent,' if you want to call it that, is coming up with plans, which, more often than not, are usually to get the better of you. Does that sound like something a hero would do? And you know something else, they don't always work, because _you _guys come around to foil them."

The room couldn't have been more silent if everybody suddenly went deaf. After catching his breath, Lincoln continued his rant. "You know, I never wanted to give girl advice to guys," he said as he pointed at each of his now scared sisters. "But I was kinda pigeonholed into doing so because NOBODY LIKES SALT AND PEPPER PIES."

A snicker erupted from somewhere in the room. "Yeah, what was that about anyway? You probably should have let the real chef handle the cooking." Leni had no idea how dumb of a move she'd just made. Lincoln's face contorted into an almost sadistic grin before dropping the major bombshell.

"I...Only...Did...that...BECAUSE A CERTAIN 10 HEADED BEAST ATE MY CHOCOLATE SUPPLY. AND THEN PROCEEDED TO LAUGH AT ME LIKE I WAS SOME KIND OF JOKE. SO WHAT IF NOT ALL GIRLS ARE THE SAME? YOU ACT LIKE ALL BOYS ARE THE SAME...ALL...THE...TIME."

"Lincoln Loud, what happened to our indoor voice," his mother scolded. The boy didn't move a muscle, instead he just continued to stare daggers at who he saw as strangers. All the while, Avery sat in his chair and let things escalate.

"You really think I like being made to feel like a loser in my own home? I get enough of that crap at school, but NOOOOO, now for the next week or so after that dumb convention I had to listen to,

'Oh Lincoln, your sisters are soooo awesome to be in that Ace Savvy movie, you must be so proud of them.'"

"I knew it," Leni said sadly and quietly.

"I mean, yeah, I didn't HAVE to invite you with me, I could have just enjoyed it with Clyde and let the odds just rule against us when it came to winning that contest," he said as his eyes started to tear up. "But I really wanted to do something as a family that made me feel like I was more than just 'your only brother.' But what happened? Only two of you did anything worth being impressed for," he said while angerly pointing to both Lynn and Lisa. "But suddenly now ALL of you are getting pictures together without me because 'The Full House Gang sticks together' or some crap."

Lincoln paused to stifle his tears, not wanting to be bombarded with sympathy at that moment. "I know I didn't exactly impress the judges with my typical antics, but would it have KILLED you to not take my wallet too?" By this point the entire family was at a loss for words, and many were starting to look guilty at their trespasses.

"Ace Savvy was all I had," he said with a voice that would shatter the heart of the cruelest cynic. "I actually thought he was going to save me from a life of mediocrity. You guys already have your talents, and barring any kind of tragedy, you're all going to be fine. But me, I can't live my life through you guys, it's not fair to you."

"Linky," Leni said sweetly as she got up and walked towards her only brother, who was now crying hot tears. "You're not a villain, or even a bad guy. Why didn't you tell us you were feeling this way?" Her embrace with him was met with a struggle to get out, to which she only tightened her grip.

"Because you'd tell me I was being foolish, as always," he replied. "I get that stealing an animal just to get attention was a dumb move, but I was just... desperate." The twins were the next to jump off the couch and attempt to calm their brother. "Please don't cry, Lincoln," they said in tandem. "We love you very, very much."

"Lincoln?" the eldest Loud child spoke. "You don't… hate us, do you?" The blubbering mess that was her brother simply shook his head. "If I hated you, I never would have bothered turning you guys into heroes for my comic book. But, I guess that's just another example of me living through you guys, it's not like you needed the extra confidence boost."

What the room didn't notice at the time was that Avery had arisen from his chair and entered the kitchen for something to drink, and to get away from the drama. On his way there, he passed the infamous trophy case. "Wow," he said to himself. "I've got quite the talented family here." He then took notice of Lincoln's spot, which held only two objects. There was a small, plastic trophy with the words 'Most Improved Brother' etched on it. As well as a small trophy with a 'power glove' emblem on it, the words reading _Ace Savvy Comic Book Contest, Lincoln Loud._

"This is interesting," he said with a smile as he opened the cabinet and removed the second trophy. He set it down on the table before stepping into the kitchen to get his drink. Once he had his glass of orange juice, he grabbed the trophy with his free hand and settled back into the living room before anybody knew he was gone.

When he returned, both the twins and Leni had returned to their seats, faint tear stains on their clothes. Lincoln stood in silence, trying to process what to say next. Before he could though, Avery spoke.

"Hey Lincoln! How'd you win this?" he held up the trophy in his left hand. Lincoln took one look at the object and fell to his knees. "It doesn't matter, it's not like anybody really cares who created 'The Full House Gang.' It's all Bill Buck's property now."

"Do you draw often, Lincoln?" the uncle asked. "Nope, not anymore. I've found other creative avenues since then, but they're stupid too."

"What other creative avenues?"

Lincoln walked over to the TV, he rifled through a nearby box before pulling out a disk case labelled 'Lynn's Table Commercial.' He pushed it into the player and immediately was treated to the commercial he had shot a few months ago with Clyde. He seemed so happy, full of energy… actually HAD hair, which Avery was pleasantly surprised to see was white. When it was over, Avery had a smile on his face, impressed.

"That's very good Lincoln, you did all of that by yourself?"

"No, I had my friend Clyde McBride help me. He's the other half of "Clincoln McCloud Productions," he solemnly explained.

"Well, if this commercial had aired out in Hazeltucky, I would have certainly come sooner. You're a very convincing young man, you know that?"

Lincoln went deadpan again. "I used to think I was the "Master of Convincing," he said sadly before an evil thought occurred to him. "But now, if anybody is the master of convincing," he started to say while pointing in the direction of his sister Lynn. "It's her, for getting me kicked out of the house for being 'Bad Luck!' Even after I came clean for lying about it."

The memory of that ordeal sent shivers up the remainder of the residents spines. Had Lincoln just spilled one of the biggest kept secrets in the family? Avery looked at his brother for an explanation.

"What is he talking about Lynn?" Before the patriarch could reply, Lola lept from her seat towards her brother. "You clod, why would you tell him that? Now mommy and daddy are going to jail," she screamed as she was about to maul him, but was quickly apprehended by Lori, who grabbed her arms, and Luna, who took hold of the princess's legs.

"No, let me go, he deserves to be hurt for ruining this family."

"LOLA LOUD THAT IS ENOUGH," yelled Leni in a rare moment of anger. "Lincoln isn't wrong Uncle Avery, we did lock him out. But only because he went along with it, we didn't want-." Lori had heard enough, as she slapped both hands onto her roommates mouth. With a nervous smile, Lori looked at her uncle with a pleading glance.

Avery was still looking at Lynn Sr with a snarl, demanding an explanation, and a damn good one at that. "Look, Avery, I don't know what me and Rita were thinking, I guess… hearing it come from all of my daughters just sent my brain to a bad place." Lincoln cleared his throat, getting the room's attention.

"The only reason I haven't ratted on you guys is because… well, this seemed so out of character for you guys to do this, that it had to be something out of your control. So unless anybody says anything to the contrary, I'm just going to keep telling myself that Lisa created some kind of 'paranoia gas' that got leaked somehow and that's why everybody acted like ass clowns, even you Luna."

The rocker teen sunk into her seat, seemingly getting smaller with each passing second.

"And while we're on the subject of dumbass behavior," the boy continued. "It shouldn't have to be_ my _job to make sure you all behave in a SUPERMARKET of all places." Lincoln had no tears left to cry, now he was all about the anger. "If I knew it was going to be that much of a chore to get a box of cereal, having to watch even my _older _sisters act like fools, I never would have bothered."

Avery took a closer look at his nephew. He could just make out the bags under the eyes of the preteen boy. "Those shouldn't be there," he thought.

"Hold on there Stinkoln," the sporty sister proclaimed. "If we really didn't love you, why would we write and perform that song for you?"

"You mean the one where you pretty much thanked me for putting your selfish desires before my own, like not doing so made me less of a brother, or a man?"

"You know what?" Lynn Sr said quickly before the atmosphere in the room go too thick. "We shouldn't let the food get cold, everybody wash up for dinner. Lincoln, could you help me and your mother set the table?" Lincoln said nothing, rather he just jogged into the kitchen to wash up.

Dinnertime

At last, the meal had begun. Lincoln was sitting between his parents, while his Uncle Avery sat across from him. "Wow," the doctor said with all seriousness. "These chicken thighs are amazing, who do I have to thank, there's no way you made these in such a short time, Lynn." The twins, Lucy, and Luna all raised their hands. "It was mostly me supervising, making sure nobody got burned or cut."

The rest of the table was either avoiding Lincoln's glances, or stealing a look only to jerk their heads when he looked back. After a long tense silence, Avery spoke up again. "Did you know this was an old family recipe your grandmother made?" he asked his nieces. They all shook their heads with indifference.

Avery sighed, upset at the lack of conversation at what was supposed to be a family reunion. "Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I think it's best that we clear up the animosity in the room," he said with an authoritarian tone. "So Lincoln, tell me about some of these 'villainous plans' you've come up with in the past." Lynn Sr shook his head at the man across from him, but Lincoln was in no mood to be stifled.

"Well, let's see" he began. "There was the time we sabotaged my dad's cooking just so we could order pizza. But I only wanted a change of pace when it came to the menu, and so did everybody else." The sisters all nodded with shame at one of their lowest moments.

"And then there's the time I said we should overthrow Lori because she was such a tyrant every time mom and dad went out. But I immediately regretted that when everything got out of control." Lynn Sr simmered at the incident which led to one of his golf clubs getting dented.

"And then there's the time I thought we were all getting kicked out on the street because of a misunderstanding," Lincoln said as the rest of the family chuckled in humiliation at their stupidity. "So instead of sticking together, I was perfectly content to curry favor with mom and dad just so I could stay. But that didn't last for long, because Lola caught on."

"I was talking about my tie collection Avery," Lynn Sr said with a nervous smile.

"You mean 'Dad's tie collection,' right? Most of those ties went to you," Avery corrected. A brief moment of tension filled the room at the mention of their father, who was not discussed often in the Loud House. Breaking the silence, Avery motioned for Lincoln to continue.

"But by far the most selfish thing I've ever done was filming my sisters without their knowledge or permission, just so I could win a video contest." At that revelation, Avery was honestly shocked that somebody would intrude on the privacy of their own family that way.

Lincoln then stood up from his seat and walked over to the cabinet. He opened the door and retrieved the two objects that were rightfully his, one of which had been returned there previously. "I mean, I eventually took the video down, (_Stupid hamster,__)_and they forgave me after I humiliated myself to make things right, but all I have to show for it is this plastic thing they got for me." He held up the small 'Most Improved Brother' award in all its waxy glory.

"Of course now, I'm not so sure I even deserve it anymore."

With one quick flick of his wrist, Lincoln chucked the plastic thing against the wall, where it broke into several pieces upon impact. The entire room was speechless, and tears had begun to flow down the cheeks of half of Lincoln's sisters. Lincoln then squeezed his remaining trophy tightly, and walked out of the dining room and towards the stairs. "I think I'm going to keep this in my room from now on… under my bed." He then vanished up the stairs and into his bedroom, the door slamming shut.

**So sorry it's taken me three weeks to update. To make up for it, t****he second part will be uploaded w****ithin 24 hours**** to make up for the delay in getting one big monster of a chapter to you. But feel free to leave comments and concerns, and especially don't forget to share this story if you think it deserves more attention. **


	6. Questions answered part 2

**Here's the second upload i****n ****48**** hours****. ****I'm glad I decided to turn this into two parts, because it allowed me to get some new followers and advice. Special thanks to Your Saving Grace is Here for the thorough analysis thus far. **** Still don't own The Loud House, I just think it's very cool.**

Nobody said anything. The entire table couldn't help but stare at the guest who forced the issue to come up.

Suddenly, a phone went off at the table and Avery immediately reached for his coat pocket. "Ah, sorry. I forgot to put this on mute." He eyed the caller and was hit with a wave of confusion. "It's Maurie, he wants to Facecall me."

"At 1 AM Central European Time?" Lisa questioned. Avery didn't respond, and got up from his seat and headed for the front door. He opened it, then stepped outside. After pressing the green button on his device, the face of a tanned middle-aged man appeared.

"Maurie? Everything OK?"

"Everything is fine," he assured his husband. "I just couldn't sleep, I can't shake the feeling something is going on back in Michigan." Maurie's eyes darted around the landscape Avery was occupying, a look of confusion came to his face.

"Are you back at home? I don't recognize the architecture."

The doctor sighed before admitting his whereabouts. "I'm back in Royal Woods honey. I decided to pay a visit to my brother Lynn." A look of shock permeated the farmer's face, before dissolving into a teary smile.

"Oh, Avery. I'm so proud of you," he said joyously. "I hope things are going well." Avery glanced to the side as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, it could be going better to be honest."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked supportively. "My sleeping pills aren't working, so I'm all yours."

Avery sighed. "I think our nephew needs our help."

Meanwhile

The rest of the Loud Family continued to sit in silence. Deep down, they all knew they played a part in Lincoln's decline. Finally, Rita spoke.

"Everybody take your plates to the sink," she ordered as she picked up her own and entered the kitchen. "We'll be serving the cake after your uncle is done with his phone call."

"Somebody should go upstairs and get Lincoln," Lori spouted. "He doesn't want to miss having some cake."

Without a word, both Leni and Luna stood up at the same time and rushed towards the stairs, almost pushing the other to the ground in their haste. When they reached the top of the stairs, they turned to see the door to Lincoln's room was closed. Cautiously, they stepped towards the abode that belonged to their brother, and knocked.

"Linky?" they both said in low voices. There was no response. "Lincoln?" a little louder this time.

"What do you want?" a weak voice replied.

"Can we come in, please?" Luna asked sweetly.

There was silence for several seconds... Then... "Door's unlocked, as usual."

Both sisters entered the converted linen closet to the sight of Lincoln lying NOT on his bed, but instead on the hard floor. He was curled into a ball again, staring off into oblivion.

"Linky, this is no time to practice for your internet challenge," Leni said in a scolding manner. Luna couldn't help but sock her older sister in the arm for her flightiness. "OW."

"C'mon Lincoln, stand up and get on the bed so we can talk." Lincoln didn't budge, so Luna motioned to Leni to grab his arms while she herself handled his legs. Lincoln struggled a bit, but his energy was clearly spent. Both sisters propped the boy into a sitting position with either of them sitting on one side or the other.

Lincoln continued to stare at nothing in particular, but small tears began to fall down his cheeks and into his lap. Noticing this, Leni and Luna, arguably his closest sisters out of everybody else, planted a kiss on the cheek to which they were closer. They embraced their warm brother, surrounding him in a firm hug.

"We're so sorry bro," Luna said softly into his ear. "You're right, you do so much for us and we can never find a way to properly repay you."

"I hate him," a solemn reply came. Confused, Luna asked for clarification.

"You mean Uncle Avery?"

"No," he answered, shaking his head. "Ace Savvy."

"What?" There was a loss for words from the guests he had in his room. "But… that doesn't make sense, you've loved Ace Savvy ever since you were just a baby."

"Look around you Luna, notice anything?" Both girls did as they were told, and understood what Lincoln was trying to say. There was no longer an Ace Savvy poster hanging on the wall, instead there was a pushpin that once held it up. That wasn't all, as above the desk in front of them, the figurines of 'Card Shark' and 'Snake Eyes' had Lincoln's face glued onto them.

"Wh-Where are your dolls of Ace Savvy and One-eyed Jack?"

"Probably at the landfill, buried," he said with no emotion.

"Oh Lincoln," Leni began to weep. "I didn't know it was that bad," she said as she practically tackled him in a bear hug.

"Leni, get off of him, you're not helping," Luna stated in anger.

"But I want to, I can't fail him again. Mom and Dad said to leave him alone until he got over things, but look at him, he's so sad."

Luna didn't have to look at her brother to agree. She had seen and heard enough today to know that the damage had been done.

"Lincoln? Do you even want to be in the movie anymore?" Luna asked nervously. Lincoln buried his head in his arms, his words almost inaudible.

"I don't know, I mean, I don't want people to see me as some kind of janitor instead of in a positive light like you guys."

"Well, what if we called the judges and demanded that you took on some kind of… consulting role? That way, our characters are done just as you created them, and you even have more power than us?"

Lincoln raised his head, his face bright red. "You're welcome to try, but I can't help but feel me scooping cat crap is only a punishment, and nothing else. I doubt they'd go along with it."

Leni spoke up next. "You never know, people surprise me all the time."

"C'mon Lincoln," Luna said encouragingly. "Come downstairs with us and eat some cake, you can have TWO corner pieces if you want." The news did little to reignite a fire in Lincoln's soul.

"Listen, I know we haven't been the best sister's a lot of the time, and we totes let you down recently," Leni began. "But believe me Lincoln, we love you more than we'll ever be able to put into words." Leni then poked Lincoln's nose lightly. "You're every-bodies favorite person whether you feel that way or not."

"But… what if I don't love myself?"

Luna and Leni gasped at this bit of news. "Wha… What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he shrugged weakly. "Could it be that in my quest to make you all happy, I forgot to keep myself happy?"

That was the million dollar question. It was true that Lincoln's favorite hobby might not have been video games or reading comics, but instead keeping his many sisters happy.

"Listen to me Lincoln, I can't let you throw yourself away," Luna replied.

"Wow, that's got to be the most recent musical reference you've ever made," was his reply.

"Luna! Leni!," Rita called from upstairs. "Uncle Avery is done talking on the phone, come on down so we can cut the cake."

"You heard mom, Lincoln. Now let's go downstairs before your chances of getting those two corner pieces get dashed," Luna recommended.

"Yeah, we can talk more about this later, and we will talk about this with everybody," Leni added.

Slowly, Lincoln slinked off his bed and opened the door. Looking back at his sisters, he still held a look of contempt that felt so foreign that he could have been an alien disguising itself as their brother. Without another word, the trio headed back to the dining room, with the two sisters placing their hands on the shoulders of their brother.

A bit later

"Wait, this cake isn't mint flavored. Why did you tell us to keep it in mint condition?" Leni said confused. Everybody at the table, except for Avery and unsurprisingly, Lincoln, face palmed. Avery only chuckled at the supposed joke, while Lincoln just continued to stare at his cake. As promised, the table allowed him to have two corner pieces of the treat, but both lay untouched aside from a few scrape marks in the frosting. Both Lynn Sr and Rita took notice of this.

"Sweetie? Are you not hungry?" Rita asked.

"C'mon son, you don't want it to get dry," Lynn Sr added.

Lincoln responded with a grunt, an almost **sad **grunt.

Lynn Jr then stood up. "Well if he doesn't want his corner pieces he should've just said so," she said snidely as she walked over to where Lincoln was sitting. "More frosting for the less moody among us, SCORE."

Before she could claim another two pieces of cake, she was pulled aside by her mother. "Lynn Junior, don't you dare touch your brother's food!"

"WHY?" she asked defensively, pulling away her body. "If he doesn't want cake, he shouldn't be forced to have cake," she reasoned. "Especially the best parts of a cake like this one."

Suddenly, the family athlete dove in between her father and brother in a last ditch effort to get Lincoln's share. Lincoln quickly responded by shoving the plate right into his sisters face and onto her jersey.

She lay on the floor, face and clothes smeared with chocolate frosting and devils food. She didn't say a word, too startled by her brother actually fighting back. The rest of the table just looked at the downcast face of Lincoln Loud. Lincoln looked directly at his fallen sister, who was slowly starting to get up.

"I'm sorry Lynn," he said in a voice that could only be described as both snarky and sad. "Was that your 'lucky' jersey?" Lynn just stared at her brother, her emotions unreadable by the amount of brown sweet stuff on her face. "Did I make it 'unlucky' by doing that?"

Then, Lynn did something she would live to regret. She grabbed as much ruined cake on her shirt and face with both hands as she could, and in one clean leap…

"AAUGGGH"

She tackled her brother out of his seat and to the ground, pinning him with her knees on his legs. She then proceeded to smear what was in her hands all over his face and cleaner clothes. Throughout the whole ordeal, Lincoln didn't struggle or even utter a word.

It was Luna who grabbed Lynn from behind off of the now brown stained boy. Lincoln did not move, but was still breathing from what everybody could see.

"LYNN LOUD JR," her parents yelled simultaneously. "Get upstairs and change your shirt, you're grounded for at least the rest of the night," her mother demanded. Lynn didn't hesitate, stomping around the table and towards the stairs. Before she could traverse to the second floor, a voice weakly piped up.

"Hey Lynn, since your lucky jersey is ruined, does that mean you're unlucky now? Can we kick YOU out of the house this time?"

There were gasps throughout the room, as they all knew who had said it. Leni had already walked over to pick her brother off the ground when he uttered those words. "Dangit Lincoln, get behind me."

"No, no need," Lynn said through gritted teeth as she ran up the stairs and slammed the door to her room.

"What's wrong with you Lincoln?" Luna said waving her hands wildly. "You're 'Flirtin with Disaster,' bro." When Lincoln didn't reply, his mother filled the silence.

"OK, everybody listen to me," she commanded. "Lincoln, go upstairs and change your shirt too; the rest of you, including you Avery, are to wait in the living room for Lincoln when he returns. Is that clear?" Even though he was a grown man, Avery raised his hand.

"Actually, could I speak to you and Lynn in private? I have something to bring to your attention." Rita pondered for a moment before looking at her husband, who shrugged. "Alright, new plan. You kids clean up the table, except you Lincoln, you still need to change. Avery and Lynn, meet me in the bedroom so we can have some privacy."

With new instructions, nobody hesitated to do as they're told. It was clear where the pants went in the family.

Later

Once Lincoln had a fresh shirt on, one that was still orange and looked somewhat like the old one, he joined the rest of the house in the living room. Even Lynn was there, though she was sitting between her parents as daggers were stared at her. She took a quick glance at her brother before snapping back to face right in front of her. Lincoln took his seat in the empty chair next to Avery, and the family meeting begun.

"First off," Lynn Sr explained. "Somebody would like to say something to their brother." He looked at the daughter who bore his name, arms crossed. "Well Eljay?"

Lynn slowly looked at the chromed boy, venom in her stare. "I'm sorry Lincoln..." She was nudged by her mother. "For going for your cake and then painting you with it. THERE I SAID IT."

"And Lincoln? What do you say back?"

"Thanks for not killing me afterwards."

If her parents weren't holding her back, Lynn Jr would most certainly have pounced on Lincoln to finish the job.

"Alright fine, we should probably move on to the main reason for this meeting," Lynn Sr explained. His wife stood up to address the room.

"Look everybody, I'm ashamed at what I've seen tonight." Her voice then turned morose. "And I also know that I could have done so much more to stop it from getting this far." Rita looked at her only son, wide eyed and clearly not caring what was being said.

"So Lincoln, why don't we finish your thoughts right here and now, BUT, we're going to do it as a Q & A so you only say what people want to hear, is that fair to everybody?" she asked the room.

Nobody shook their heads, while only a few people actually nodded.

"Good!" Lynn Sr confirmed. "Then I'll ask the first question."

"Lincoln," he said loudly at his son. "You mentioned before that Ace Savvy was all that you had; What did you mean by that?"

Lincoln sighed. "When I wasn't doing homework or helping you guys, I was reading comics. It's the only thing that truly defined who I was as an individual."

"Oh thats a loa-" Luan started to say before being shushed by her mother. "There also won't be any interrupting or follow-up questions unless approved by me, understood?" When nobody had any objections, Lincoln continued.

"He became my role model, he was everything I wanted to be." He then turned down again. "That is until I let my jealousy get in the way of my duty to be heroic. I don't deserve to be called a hero, and now I don't have a role model."

Lynn Sr was a bit baffled by this revelation. Wasn't a father usually a son's role model?

"Well, what about me sport? Can't I be your role model?"

Lincoln froze at what his dad had just said. He looked to his mother for permission to ignore the question, but received no relief.

"I would answer your father, honey."

Taking a massive gulp of air, Lincoln proceeded to pull no punches.

"I'm not going to assume it's easy having to care for eleven children without coming off as playing favorites," he said gently. "You know that we know that. However, even though I'm the only boy in the family, I feel like you haven't really taught me much in terms of being a man. You know, other than 'be good to your sisters, or else.' Don't get me wrong, NOBODY can top your cooking from what I've had, but still..."

Lynn Sr had a look on his face like the time he discovered his 'cabbage casserole' was unpopular with his family.

"I'm sorry dad, but when you kicked me out of the house, I lost a lot of respect for you. That's not even including how scared you are of Halloween."

Upon hearing that, Avery tried his best to hide the smile forming on his face. _Still, heh hehe. _

"Alright son, I'll admit that I've let you down when you needed me the most. But seriously, there's got to be a few fun things we've done?"

Avery got up from his place and headed towards the kitchen to search for some remaining grape juice. He saw that two of the opened bottles still had liquid in them, so he poured what was left from both bottles into a glass he fetched from the kitchen pantry. He then returned to his seat.

"Ok, I've got a question for him," Lynn Jr spoke next. She whispered it into the ear of her mother before receiving a nod. "Don't you think you're overreacting Lincoln? It's not the end of the world or anything, just pick your ass off the ground and stop whining." Rita turned to her daughter with a deep frown.

"Lynn Jr, that is not what you wanted to ask him." Nonetheless, Lincoln had a response.

"I just want some kind of indication that I won't spend the rest of my life being your caddy, your dress dummy, your roadie, your comedy assistant, your… practice dummy, your rhyming dictionary, your test monkey, and especially your pageant coach," he said as he pointed to each applicable sister. "I need to find my own path in life, NOW."

"Are you saying you don't enjoy being with us, Linky?" Leni said sadly.

Lincoln sighed and waited several seconds before choosing his words carefully.

"It's not that I don't love you guys, or even enjoy your company, but you have to admit that those activities are not exactly… 'career sturdy,' if you know what I mean."

Lori raised her hand next. "I don't have a question, but I think something needs to be said before we go any further with this.

She then stood up from her chair and slowly walked over to her brother. She placed both of her hands on his shoulders and leaned her blonde head against his bald one. "Lincoln, you're not the only sabatour here, and you certainly aren't the villain you think you are." Lincoln didn't bother turning his head, but instead looked down at his hands. "We've all done things we aren't proud of, either because we're scared, or jealous. Just ask Uncle Avery why we haven't heard of him until today," she said while looking at the man in question.

Lincoln didn't respond, so Avery spoke for him. "If you don't care, I won't tell you," he said, taking a sip of his glass of sparkly grape juice. He almost spit it out after hearing what Leni said next.

"You mean where you kissed mom at her own wedding?" she asked in her typical naive demeanor.

"LENI!" the room erupted in anger. Lincoln raised his head slowly at the breaking news, and stared at the man in the suit. "Is that true?" he said in a voice that seemed to want to exude anything other than indifference, but failed miserably.

Carefully setting his glass down, Avery nodded sadly at his nephew. "It's kind of a long story, but I can explain."

Flashback: 20 Years earlier

_Everything was so different back then, and I'm not just talking about the hairstyles. It was the day of your parents wedding, and I was supposed to give the best man speech. Your father and I were still as close as siblings could be. _

"Looking good Lynnster," a younger Avery Loud told his brother. "Thank you, Avery!"

_I was still in medical school at that point, so my stress levels weren't exactly at their lowest. _

"Uh, Avery?" the young IT specialist said as he waved his hand in his brothers face. "You OK? You're shaking something fierce. You didn't spend the night drinking again did you?" he asked accusingly.

"What? No!" he said defensively. "Here, why don't you smell my breath to be certain?"

"No, NO. I'll take your word for it. Just promise me you won't overdo things at the reception, OK?"

Avery nodded before leaving his brother to finish getting ready.

**At the reception**

_Luckily, the ceremony went off without a problem. But… things have a way of getting worse before they get better._

"Congratulations son," an older gentleman told Lynn Sr. "Thank you Dad."

"Your mother would… have loved to have seen you so happy." The man then stared off into the distance and walked away without another word.

On the other side of the banquet hall, Avery Loud was talking with old friends of the family, many of them were curious as to why he didn't bring a date.

"C'mon, there has to be a special lady in your life," prodded an older women.

"Weelll," Avery hesitated. "My original date had other plans this weekend, so she couldn't attend."

_There was a bit of truth to that. Sarah Carlyle, with whom I went to college and was currently enrolled in medical school with, did in fact have plans that same weekend. She was… the first and at the time only person who knew I was gay, and she and I were best friends. _

"That doesn't mean you couldn't have kept looking," another older man said.

"Listen, don't make this about me. Don't you agree that Rita looks absolutely beautiful in that dress," _I said pointing to her. _

_W__hen nobody let up on their criticisms, I had to change my tactic._

"Well, well, well. Is this the way to Amaretto?" _I said as I walked over to the bar for a drink. I thought I was going to be fine._

"One drink_," I told myself._ _But as I thought more about how happy your dad was, the booze was starting to cloud my judgement. I thought I needed to convince everybody that I wasn't queer._

"Barkeep? Another LIT." _It turned out to be my first of many that night. _

_Things got sorta fuzzy from there. When I was loose enough, I remember walking towards the closest person in a dress, turning them around, and planted a kiss right on their lips. And I made it count._

_Next thing I remember hearing was…_

"AAAAH, Avery what the hell!" _Even in my stupor I knew that voice, and could barely make out the face of your mother. Soon, people began to rush over to investigate, including your father, both grandfathers, and one of dad's friends._

"What happened sweetheart?"Albert asked.

"I...I...I WAS KISSED BY THIS DRUNK LUNATIC," the bride screamed in reply for the whole hall to hear.

_A__fter that, I couldn't say a word, I didn't know what to say. __How__ could I explain that I didn't mean to kiss 'Rita' of all people, I just, wanted to get people off my back. It was a different time then, and looking back, I've hated myself for not being brave enough to weather the storm just a little longer. But… the damage had clearly been done._

Back to the present

"What hurt the most wasn't that I was beaten and thrown to the curb by both of your grandfathers, but mostly it was… after that day, I never saw dad again. He… vanished not too long after that, and even then me and your father didn't come together to help look for him."

Avery was able to hold back his tears this time, but Lincoln looked like he had little interest in what he'd just heard.

"Ya'know," Avery said quickly in an attempt to cushion the tension. "I always figured your IT specialist father found a way to block any mention of me from getting onto your electronic devices. That's why a quick search of your own name would've yielded nothing about me."

Everybody ignored Avery's attempt at humor, turning their attention back to Lincoln.

"Yeah, let's talk about how much of a villain you really are," Lola said with a grin. A grin which slowly dissolved into a grimace. "What about all of the times you came to bail me, Lana, and Lucy out of trouble?"

"Well, I'll be going to school with Lynn soon, so I can't protect you guys anymore. You'll just have to use your strengths to fend them off, whether it's blackmail, disappearing, or, I don't know, hitting them with your hammer."

Lisa raised her hand when nobody else had anything to say. She walked over to her mother and whispered her question. "Try to put it in simpler terms sweetie," was the only response she got. Lisa nodded, then turned towards her brother.

"Please Lincoln," Lisa said in her typical snark. "You think you're the only person who has bad days?"

"Well I've had way more bad days than any of you!" he screamed in reply. "And now, 'sniff' I feel so lost."

"Lincoln, you made the honor roll; Remember?" his father stated. "You keep up those kind of grades and the world will have nothing but opportunities for you."

It was at that moment that Uncle Avery stood up to address the room. The parents looked at him before nodding and allowing him to share some news.

"In fact Lincoln, I just got off the phone with your Uncle Maurice about an hour ago, and he seems to believe that you'd be well advised to leave the house for a while, your parents also agree that it's a good idea."

Lincoln and his sisters were awestruck at this revelation, some more so than others.

"WHAT? But he just got home."

"You're not serious about this are you mom? Dad?"

Finally, Lincoln said something in shock. "Wha-What did you have in mind? A mental hospital?"

Avery tried to stifle his laugh at the asinine assumption, but had trouble breathing it was so difficult. When he retrieved his composure, he continued.

"You know, Lucy asked me earlier if I was here to help you. I didn't come here with the intention of doing so, but after today, I've changed my mind. If you want to come stay with me and Maurie at our farm for a month, we'd be happy to have you."

Upon hearing the word 'farm,' images of his sleepover at his friend Liam's farm came back to him. Lincoln would have rather attended a pool party thrown by a group of popular girls than sleep in a barn and partake in other 'farm life' stuff.

"I'm, not going to be sleeping in a barn, will I?"

His uncle chuckled with a wide grin. "No my boy, you'll be in one of the guest bedrooms of our villa."

Then the doctor's face turned serious. "I do want to make it clear though that if you come along with me tonight, you'll be doing farm work to keep your morale up. Still, you'll get some money out of the experience, and… maybe a few surprises along the way."

Lincoln still seemed unsure, so he looked to his family for their reactions. His parents were giving him small smiles.

"You're actually OK with this?" he asked.

"Sport, I'll admit, I wasn't particularly fond of the idea of you being away from home for so long."

Rita finished the thoughts of her husband. "But then we realized that, frankly, we don't have any other ideas to get you better, and..." Her face turned down. "It's mostly our faults."

"Avery has promised me he knows what he's doing; And besides, we'll see each other again for Independence Day. Avery says I can cater an event he's holding up at the farm if I'm interested."

Lincoln didn't smile, but he could feel his mood lifting just slightly.

His sisters on the other hand…

"Linky don't leave us," Lana said with tears in her eyes as she ran up to trap her brother in her small frame.

"Uh, Lincoln, what about the plans we had this summer as a family?" Luan added. "Plus, you're pastier than sour cream and will probably burn up like a match in the summer heat."

Luna stood up to answer her roommate. "The thing is guys, Lincoln just admitted he's sick to death of comics." The entire room filled with gasps, including from Leni, who'd been in Lincoln's room just a while ago.

"He's perfectly fine with dropping out of the Ace Savvy movie, but I told him to hold out for a consulting gig," she explained sadly. "I think... he should go with Uncle Avery."

"But… But…?" Leni tried to argue before getting a better look at her brother. She might not have been the smartest student in her class, but Leni was far and away the most emotionally intelligent Loud sibling. Underneath the blank expression on her brothers face that stared at her, she could feel just how broken her brother felt.

"You know what?" she said with a change of tone. "I promised Linky that I would help him, and I guess the only way to do that… is to let somebody else help him." She looked at her roommate Lori for clarification, as though she had answered wrong.

"Guy's, I don't think we have a choice here," the eldest daughter said sadly. "Mom and dad have already made up their minds..."

"Then I'm going with him," Lola said as she rushed to join her twin at her brothers side. "I don't want you to stop being my pageant coach, you're the only person who gets me." The tears were starting to flood down her face and soak into Lincoln's newly clean shirt._"_Ah, C'mon," he thought annoyed.

"If you can't be my coach, what will happen to us?" she cried with everything she had. The old Lincoln would've rushed to comfort his sister in a heartbeat. But, the Lincoln she was currently weeping into didn't see her as a little girl, as memories of her scary side returned to him.

"Could somebody help me here?" he askedwith only a twing of sadness breaking through. The room looked at one another, until at last, Lori and Luan stood up and grabbed Lola and Lana respectively into their arms.

"NO… NO… NOOOOOO," they both squealed at being wretched from the orange form. Both older girls grasped onto their younger twin sisters with intent, while tears of their own started to fall. In fact, the entire room (except Lincoln) seemed ready to break down.

"Honey," Rita said sadly to Lincoln. "Why don't you get your overnight bag from our room, go upstairs and start packing?"

"OK Mom," he said with resolve. The shiny headed boy walked behind his family and into the master bedroom to get his bag. He then rushed upstairs to his room to get his things together.

A while later

Lincoln sat in the living room with his newly stuffed overnight bag. Uncle Avery sat next to him on the couch.

"Ok, so what are we missing from here?" the gentleman pondered.

"Well, I still don't have work boots, or a hat to beat the heat," he said lacking profound excitement.

"How about a Bandana?" he replied inquisitively. "If not, your Uncle Maurie can spare one of his."

To their left, in the dining room, a few of Lincoln's sisters were comforting each other regarding the eventual departure of their brother.

"Y'know, he's never even been to summer camp, where you're supposed to have fun," Luna surmised. "How will he cope with 'A Hard Day's Night?'"

"We were supposed to work on prepping for the Lil Miss Michigan Pagaent next year, but now..." Lola wondered sadly. "Those days might be over."

"To be fair Lola," Lori told the younger twin. "The older you get, the more, 'complicated' things become. Plus, his advice wasn't enough to place you in the top 3 of that one regional pageant, so maybe it's time to find a coach with experience on that level."

"It was just one pagaent, and I'm still cute, right? I have to find a way to convince him to stick with coaching me, even if I have to..."

"Do I even want to hear you finish that thought?" Lori said as her arms were crossed.

Without another word, Lola rushed up the stairs to her room, where her twin was sitting on her bed, surrounded by her many reptile pals in sorrow.

"I'm gonna miss having Lincoln around all the time. 'sniff' Nobody else likes catching bugs like I do, not even Lynn."

Suddenly, Lola felt a sense of, bewilderment. Lincoln hadn't even walked out the door yet and Lana was already acting like he was dead. She would have leaped onto her twins bed and started one of their famous arguments, but then she recalled some words her dear brother imparted to her.

_Listen Lola, not everybody gets to have a twin. The older you get, the harder to kick bad habits becomes. Try asking for her advice on matters that you care about, and you might just be surprised._

Where was** that** Lincoln? The one always willing to help others._ "_I hope he comes back soon," Lola thought.She approached the snake girl on her bed, and asked her question.

"Hey Lana?" The young tomboy glanced over at her 'prettier' twin.

"Whuh?"

"I have a question, and I know it's not something you really care about, but I need to ask somebody."

"What is it?" she said as she slowly sat up, her pets slithering/skittering away at the disturbance.

"Well, do you think my dress is a bit, childish?"

"But, you are a child, why would it be a problem if it looked childish?"

"Because I want Linky to continue to be my pageant coach, and I don't think he sees me as mature enough to get his help."

By now, the rest of Lana's scaly friends had retreated to other parts of the room, allowing the red capped girl to jump off the bed and face Lola inches from her face.

"If you want my honest opinion, I think the dress is the least of your problems. Although seeing you wear pink all the time is kinda... sickening."

Lola didn't have time to retort for such a silly misunderstanding, she had bigger issues on her mind.

"Do you remember," she began to say in a distant voice. "When he spent a whole two hours getting me to read a book? And how he no longer cared about that stupid contest to get pizza, he just… really wanted me to be able to read?"

"Well, duh, it wasn't that long ago," Lana replied, breaking whatever tender atmosphere was built up.

"He's such a great big brother, I wish he knew just how important he is to me, to everybody in this house."

"GIRLS," a mature feminine voice called out from downstairs. "Come say goodbye to your brother, he's about to leave." The twins didn't hesitate to head for the downstairs to be the first ones there.

When they both found their places in the living room, the entire family was already gathered outside for the farewell. Lincoln was now sporting a baseball cap to hide his 'accident.'

The boy didn't appear to be depressed anymore, but still seemed nervous.

"Well son," Lynn Sr broke the silence. "You ready for this?"

"Maybe," was all he said.

"Lincoln, why don't you place your bag in the trunk," Avery recommended. He took out his car remote and hit the proper button, popping open the back. Lincoln shuffled over to the open compartment, and lifted it up the rest of the way, only to be met with…

"Hey Lincoln!" the gloomy voice of Lucy said in the darkness of the trunk, her face barely visible. "Don't let anyone know I'm here, I'm coming with you and there's no room in the front for me to sit."

Lincoln sighed. "C'mon Lucy, take my hand and let's go join the others." The small girl hesitated to extend her hand, but complied when it was clear she was fighting a losing battle. After helping her out of the black sports car, the two walked over together.

"Lucy? What were you doing in the trunk of my car?"

"Uhm? I wanted to come with Lincoln, it won't be the same without him."

"I know sweetie," Rita said, her emotions boiling up again. "But this is something Lincoln needs to do. We're just going to have to make the best of things until July 4th, OK?"

"Sigh, alright," the emo said, defeated. She then gave her brother a rare hug before joining the rest of her family in front of him.

"Well Lincoln, it's getting late." Avery hurried. "So say your goodbyes quickly so your parents and eldest sisters can go to bed and get up for work tomorrow."

Lincoln would have run right into the arms of his family if he wasn't still skeptical that they wouldn't drag him back inside. So, he stayed put.

Lori caught onto his hesitation and lingering trust issues, so she stepped forward. She got down on one knee and spoke for the family.

"Lincoln, I hope you find what you're looking for. Because… if you don't, you'd've wasted a whole month of your life when it could have been spent with your family, with… me." She then hugged her only brother as the tears started to run down her face slowly.

"Don't know what you've got, till it's gone," Luna said morosely.

With that, Lincoln walked over to the passenger side of the Portofino and got inside, after checking that he still had his wallet. Avery closed the back, and entered his vehicle. Lincoln just sat there, buckled and ready to begin his summer adventure.

"Isn't there anything else you'd like to say to your family, Lincoln?" his uncle asked. The boy thought for a moment, then shook his head. "OK, then, off to Hazeltucky we go."

The engine was started, the stick placed in reverse, and with that, the fancy car backed out of the driveway with the passenger door now facing the house.

_Anything else I want to say? I'll be gone for a month, probably too tired to talk to anybody after a long day's work._

Before he regretted his decision, Lincoln rolled down his car window, raised his head outside of it, and yelled…

"I LOVE YOU ALL."

The rest of the Loud's watched as the black sports car disappeared into the summer night, with tears in their eyes.

"We love you too… Linky."

Everybody remained outside for another five minutes, in complete disbelief that the 'prince' of their family was no longer on the premises.

"Alright fam," Lynn Sr said to his family. "We've got a lot of things to discuss going forward, but I know it's late, so we'll get to them after we get a good nights rest."

The Loud Family shuffled back into the house, where for the first time in forever, it felt… dead.

**AN: ****I apologize if this chapter feels rushed, I just really wanted to get this out so I could move on to the really interesting stuff.**

**So as of the completion of this chapter, I'm in the middle of my last class of college. Due to the amount of work I have ahead of me, ****my upload schedule will be hard to define,**** at least until May. ****I have the 'skeleton' of this story mapped out, I just need to put some meat on it, if you know what I mean.**

**Although, I do have a couple ideas for one-shots running through my head, including one about arguably the most hated character in Loud House history. So... yeah. Are you excited to see where this all goes? I can promise you this won't just be about Avery, there are a few more OC's we've yet to meet. And of course, Summer is only just beginning.**


	7. The (Temporary) New Normal Part 1

**Hello Again, ****I have returned from my extended hiatus. ****I hope everybody is doing alright given our current predicament. There will be a separate author's note at the end with r****egards to the future of this fanfic****. ****I don't own the Loud House, I just think it's really cool.**

It had only been an hour since Lincoln Loud had departed his home, but while many in the house had already allowed exhaustion to claim them, the room that held the eldest daughters was filled with soft sobs.

"Leni? Are you still sad about Lincoln?" her roommate replied with a hint of irritation.

The platinum blonde ceased her crying and said "N-No, it's about Chaz."

The posture of her older sister changed immediately upon hearing that. It was Lori who had brought Chaz into her sister's life, being a part of her friend group in high school.

"What about him?"

Leni opened her mouth to say something, but another round of sobs drowned out her reply. Lori sighed before throwing her blanket off of her body and swung her legs to face her sister to her left.

"Leni, this clearly can't wait until morning," she said rubbing her forehead and eyes. "Why couldn't you have brought this up right after work?"

"But… It's after work now," she replied confusedly, tears still gently falling.

"Leni, please don't do this tonight," Lori said in a harsh whisper. "I meant **immediately **after work, in Vanzilla on our way home?"

Leni sat up in bed, wiping her face with a nearby tissue. "I don't know, OK?" she said defensively. "I guess Miguel and Fiona kept me happy after I talked to Chaz. And then seeing Lincoln again helped too."

"And what exactly did the two of you talk about?"

"Well… we talked about Linky for a while," she paused. "That's what made me think about our conversation today. But he didn't really get to tell me what he wanted to say in the end."

By this point, Leni's meandering was even more annoying as Lori and her for that matter had to be up early to go to work. So Lori had to hurry things along.

"Leni, did Chaz end things with you?"

"What? No… at least, I don't think so. He said he wanted to discuss something really important with me, but we spent so much time talking about Lincoln that he said he'd just tell me during my break the next day."

Lori pondered for a moment what to say.

"Alright Leni, listen to me!" she said sternly. "We'll discuss this tomorrow, OK?"

Wide eyed, Leni replied. "But, I can't sleep until I know things are going to be totes alright."

Sighing with frustration, Lori then put on a small smile and got up from her bed. She crossed the short distance to her roommates bed, and sat down.

"I'll tell you what," she began. "Why don't I sleep with you in your bed, _just _for tonight?" Leni soon leapt into her sisters arms with a teary eyed look.

"Oh thank you Lori," she cheered before getting shushed. "Oh, right, sorry," she whispered.

Meanwhile, in the master bedroom downstairs, a frantic Lynn Sr. was putting the finishing touches on the HELP NEEDED post on his restaurant website.

"Aannd, there we go," he said with a grin. "Good thing I never got rusty in my IT skills!"

He closed his laptop and placed it under his side of the bed before moving to turn off his table lamp. He stopped upon noticing that his wife had walked out of the bathroom in her pink robe.

"You know, things were going great for a while honey, we were even able to rebuild the second bathroom after only a month of the restaurant being open," she said.

"I do know," he replied. "If anything, there just isn't enough _room _anymore for everybody to have a seat."

Rita walked over to her side of the bed, laid down, and placed one hand on her husband's cheek.

"You'll figure things out, I just know it," she said as she caressed his face.

"Thanks honey," he told her, kissing her before reaching back towards his lamp. Then a thought occurred to him. "Sooo Rita? About my brother?"

Rita was reaching for the book on her nightstand when the question reached her. "What about Avery?"

"Do you forgive him? You know, for the kiss?" he asked inquistively.

Rita sighed, turning to face her husband.

"I don't know Lynn, on the one hand, it was so long ago that times have changed since then." Lynn nodded his head but his wife wasn't through her thoughts.

"But looking back, it was still a shock to have been kissed so harshly; And his breath Lynn, did he have to be so drunk when he kissed me?"

Lynn shook his head. "He did promise me that he'd keep his lips off the alcohol at the reception, so that was another disappointment in my eyes."

Rita placed her head in her hands, rubbing its sides in big circles. "I guess it'll depend on whether he can fix Lincoln, he may not be a psychiatrist but he's still a doctor, so he must have some idea of what to do."

"At least," Lynn Sr. added. "More of an idea than us." He looked at his alarm clock, noting the approaching morning. "I should get to bed, things are going to be hell at work if I don't." He finally turned off his light and tried to go to sleep.

Rita on the other hand, kept her light on and reached out for her book. It was then a thought occurred to her, _why do I get the feeling I'm forgetting something else._

When she couldn't answer that question, she shrugged before opening her book.

_7 AM_

Morning came sooner than expected for the eldest residents of the Loud House. The alarms went off in the master bedroom and the room of the two eldest daughters.

"Ugh, literally," Lori groaned before sitting up, or at least, trying to sit up, before she noticed the weight to her left holding her down. She then took notice of a damp feeling on her chest and looked down to see a large damp spot.

"Please tell me this is just tears?" she muttered quietly. She considered sniffing the spot, but figured better. "I'm just going to assume so."

She moved to turn off her cell phone alarm, but Leni was still clinging to her side. In response, she shook her temporary bed buddy.

"C'mon Len, get up," she whispered harshly. "And don't think we can shower together either."

But the grip the younger sister had on her only tightened. Lori was going to have to get creative, a little mean perhaps, but creative.

"Leni!" she said in a faux excited tone. "Lincoln's here, it was all just a bad dream."

That did the trick, as Leni released the hold she had on her older sister, enough for Lori to bring an end to a symphonic version of "_**O**__**o**__**h girl, if I could**__._"

"Really, where is he? Linky!" she said excitedly. A hush from her roommate brought her back to reality.

"Sorry Leni, but Lincoln isn't here," she said with legit sympathy. "We really do need to get ready though, but I'm getting in the shower first, since you take 40 minutes and there's no hot water afterwards."

Leni only nodded sadly before walking over to her dresser and sorting through it to find the perfect outfit for the day.

_Downstairs_

Lynn Sr was already up and in the kitchen preparing the morning meal for his eldest daughters. The rest of the family was asleep.

"Good morning Lori, Leni," he greeted the newly showered girls. Lori responded with a more chipper attitude. Leni however, was still downcast, the turquoise dress clad teen visibly depressed.

"Hey Leni, everything OK?" he asked her. She responded by slowly shaking her head.

"Is it about Lincoln?" the father replied inquisitively.

"Actually dad," the eldest daughter spoke up. "It's about a different boy."

"Who?" the father inquired

"You remember Chaz, right?" Lori replied

Lynn Sr pondered for a moment.

"Chaz? Isn't he the plus sized boy with a cap and striped shirt?" he questioned

"So you do know him?" she said with her arms crossed

"Only from description, I haven't gotten to actually meet him like I did with Bobby and Sam."

"Well, with any luck, you will. Leni is supposed to meet with him today about something important, and Leni is too freaked out about what's going to happen." She then leaned in close to her father and whispered.

"That he might break up with her."

"I'm sure everything will be fine," the father said with a smile. "Now c'mon, time for first chow of the day, fresh off the stove."

With a yawn, both Lori and Leni entered the kitchen to grab a serving of oatmeal.

"_The only good thing about waking up early during the summer, is that at least I'll be the first to get a toaster pastry." _thought Lori.

_At a Hazeltucky Farm_

Lincoln woke up in an unfamiliar room, in an unusually comfortable bed. The late morning rays of sun pushed into the bedroom to wake its occupant. He rubbed his eyes before peeking under the bed's comforter to see… he was still in his orange shirt and jeans from last night. How did he get into bed?

Suddenly there was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Hey Lincoln, are you awake?"

Lincoln let out an audible "Uh huh" before the door creaked open to reveal the face of his uncle, dressed out of his tan suit and wearing a more casual outfit of khakis and a collared shirt.

"Great!" he said excitedly. "Why don't you get changed and come meet me downstairs so we can discuss how the day is going to play out?" Lincoln nodded and Avery shut the door, his footsteps echoing down the hall and hitting the stairs.

"_Uncle Avery must have carried me inside when we arrived."_

The boy stretched his arms before throwing his covers to the side and slipping out of the bed onto a hardwood floor.

"_I wonder if he brought my bag in too?_"

His question was answered when he caught a glimpse of the thing under the bed. Chuckling to himself, Lincoln pulled the bag out and unzipped it.

"Might as well look presentable," he said to himself. He pulled out a sky blue t-shirt and denim jeans before closing their container. He then walked over to the lone window of the room and parted the curtains the rest of the way.

What he saw were vast fields of golden agriculture stretching all the way to a woody clearing in the distance.

"_I wouldn't mind waking up to this every day."_ Lincoln opened his window and took a deep breath, catching a strong scent of barley and …. bacon?

"_I wonder if that's breakfast? I guess I'll wait to put on new clothes."_

Lincoln wasted no time rushing to the door of the bedroom and opening it wide. The hallway reached on in both directions, with doors aligning each side.

"_This reminds me of that one movie with Tom Hanks as a Southerner. Now where are the stairs?"_

Lincoln stepped out of the bedroom and closed the door before taking a sharp left and beginning his search for the ground level. Luckily, the house wasn't too big as Lincoln spotted a flight of stairs and immediately descended them, following the smell of breakfast all the way.

Lincoln heard the crackling of what was certainly the bacon in a room mere yards away. Standing in the kitchen was his uncle, wearing nothing that would protect his clothes from any splattering grease that could come at him. Avery turned from the pan and acknowledged his nephew.

"Good morning, Lincoln. I bet you slept well."

Lincoln let out a short yawn in response.

"I don't remember walking up the stairs last night, did you carry me inside?"

Avery nodded.

"You were pretty out of it once we left Royal Woods, and I tried shaking you awake, but you were already in a deep sleep." He flipped the strips of bacon over, which Lincoln noticed were still light grey.

"I'm guessing that's turkey bacon," the boy asked.

"Indeed," the doctor replied. "There's also toast and fruit already on the table," he added, pointing over his shoulder to an entire loaf of bread that was sliced into pieces and golden brown, next to a medium sized bowl of fruit salad.

"The bacon shouldn't be long now, go ahead and help yourself." Avery handed Lincoln a plate and Lincoln wasted no time charging towards the table. "What kind of jam or jelly do you like, Lincoln?" Avery asked.

"What kind do you have?"

"Everything," he replied.

Lincoln dropped his jaw. "Then I guess I'll have grape."

"Good choice," the older man said, walking over to the massive fridge and fiddling around until he pulled out a jar of grape jelly.

"This stuff is made fresh from another farm nearby," he told the boy, unscrewing the cap and placing it down next to him. "I'll just fetch the bacon and then we can begin our day right."

He pulled another plate from the cabinet above him, covered the surface with napkins, then gingerly plucked each slice of bacon from the pan, allowing the excess grease to fall.

"Be careful," he told his young guest. "Better wait a minute or so before putting this into your mouth." The plate was put in between Lincoln and his host, who sat in the chair next to him.

"Oh, shoot," Avery said, standing suddenly. "You've got nothing to drink. Would you like orange juice? Or are you old enough to like coffee?"

"Orange juice, absolutely." Lincoln replied, already smearing a piece of toast with the grape jelly. Avery nodded before power walking back to the fridge and retrieving a rotund, glass pitcher with a layer of film covering the top, filled with what was clearly orange juice.

"Let me guess, that's fresh too?"

"Mm hmm," the bald man said, not looking Lincoln's direction since he was searching for a large glass in the cabinets above him. "This'll do," he said, walking back towards the table and pouring his nephew a tall glass. "Now… we're ready to eat."

Lincoln reached for a couple pieces of the bacon, which were still a little too hot to eat, but not to touch.

As Avery sipped from his mug, he stared at Lincoln, pondering what to say next. Finally…

"So Lincoln," he began. "How are you feeling this morning? You know… given the way you spoke to your family and acted yesterday?"

Lincoln stopped chewing the piece of toast he held in his hand. After swallowing, he replied.

"It's… hard to say. I mean, I meant every word of what I told them. But…," his voice trailed off, thinking back to last night. "Now that I've gotten the best sleep I've had in a long time, I can't help but wonder whose really to blame after all," he said downcast.

Suddenly, a Maine Coon cat hopped up onto the kitchen table and let out a soft _"Merawr"_

"Ah, there you are fluffy boy," the bald man said with a smile as he stroked the tan, long haired feline.

"Lincoln, this is Bert."

"Bert? That's an… interesting name for a cat."

His uncle only laughed. "Yeah, it was your Uncle Maurie's idea to name him after the actor who played the Cowardly Lion from _Wizard of Oz." _He lightly shoved the adorable intruder off the table and away from the late breakfast.

"He didn't get anything on your food did he?" Avery asked with a half smile.

Lincoln looked at his plate closely before shaking his head.

"Good; Now, what were you saying about yesterday?"

Lincoln took the time to chew a piece of bacon before replying.

"What I was getting to… was that my sisters may have left me in the dust, but… it was those stupid judges that liked all of them so much, even though, as I said yesterday, Lynn and Lisa were the only remotely impressive ones."

Lincoln paused to collect his thoughts, taking a sip of juice, which tasted **amazing** by the way.

_This really is the best juice ever!_

"Anyway," he said once the juice was down his throat. "I can't help but think this whole problem could've been resolved if I'd either just asked my sisters to include me, or..."

After a pregnant pause from the tween, Avery looked at Lincoln inquisitively. "Yes?"

"If I had just created an original character around myself, and that way not only would I be included, but I would've been seen as equal to them, even though I'd just be a sidekick like the rest of them were written as."

Avery nodded while taking a sip of his coffee. "Both of those sound like good ideas… if we were still in the past. The real question here is, what are you going to do to fix the problem NOW?"

Taking a deep breath, Lincoln rubbed his face before realizing something.

"Ah, dammit, I still have grease on my hands," he said before covering his mouth.

"Sorry," the boy said meekly.

The doctor only waved his hand in dismissal.

"Don't worry about it, I know a lot of kids your age cuss, and you didn't use a stronger word even if you could've."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Tell you what, let's leave the 'therapy talk' for after breakfast, and instead discuss what we're going to do today. Your Uncle Maurice won't be back for another few days, so why don't we do something fun?"

Lincoln gave a look of confusion

"You mean I don't have to work at all today?"

His uncle chuckled. "Of course not, Maurie has always been the expert when it comes to agriculture, so there's no way he'd trust me to supervise you and any other farm hands."

Lincoln's look of confusion dissolved into one of relief.

"So here's what I was thinking," Avery's voice alerted the young man. "Why don't we start with a tour of the farm? Your Uncle Maurie wouldn't be opposed to you getting used to your work area."

"Does it involve a lot of walking?" the bandaged boy asked. With a smirk, the doctor replied, "only to the shed where I keep the golf cart."

"That sounds good to me," Lincoln said with his mouth partially full. After swallowing what he had, Lincoln spoke again.

"I already caught a glimpse of the golden fields and the treeline when I opened my window earlier, but I can't wait to see what else there is."

"Excellent, just don't forget to close the window before we head out after breakfast. Oh, and by the way, this is what you can expect to eat for breakfast until Maurie returns. He's the real chef in this house, and will cook you a real farmers breakfast every morning if you ask him to."

Lincoln shrugged. "I'm OK with toast and bacon for the next few days," he said while scooping some fruit salad onto his plate.

"Well then, take your time with breakfast," the uncle said as he downed the last of his coffee. "I'll be in my office over there working until you're done."

Avery carried his mug to the sink, washed it out, then placed it in the dishwasher before walking past his nephew, past the stairs, and into a room with two large doors open to welcome its occupant.

_I could used to this, _Lincoln thought to himself. As he plunged his fork into a piece of cantaloupe, Lincoln couldn't help but smile.

Back in Royal Woods

Leni sat in the food court of the Royal Woods mall, nervously sipping a smoothie while seated between Miguel and Fiona.

"Well, he should be here any moment," Fiona told her co-worker with an encouraging back rub added. "Don't worry Leni, we'll be here for you no matter what."

"Yeah girl," Miguel added. "Best friends for life!"

At that moment, the familiar shape of a large teenager came into the view of the trio. He waved before quickening his pace until he was feet away from Leni.

"H-Hi Chaz," she said meekly. Miguel and Fiona stood from their seats and began to walk away.

"We won't be far, girl," Miguel said with an assuring wink while Fiona gave a subtle glare at the new arrival.

"Don't let him get away with keeping you in a lurch," Fiona whispered.

When the teens were far enough away, Chaz pulled up a seat and sat.

"Sooo, Leni," he spouted nervously. "How have you been?"

_How had she been? The last 16 hours were probably the worst she'd ever experienced emotion wise. _

"The worst!" she finally said. "First, I worried this whole time what you were going to tell me, but then Lincoln came home and I was happy to see him, but he shaved his head and if it weren't for the bandages he'd be totes adorable, so ..."

"LENI!" Chaz interrupted. "Please slow down, and breath. Now, what were you saying about Lincoln being bald?"

Leni grew a frown on her face, tired of the delay in finding out the fate of her relationship.

"Oh no, I'm not saying anything about Linky until you tell me what you were going to tell me yesterday," she said with her hands on her hips.

Taken aback by this new side to his 'girlfriend,' Chaz sighed.

"Alright Len, I guess the time has come. But, I don't really know the best way to say this, it's just… so weird."

"Chaz, just start talking," she replied as she grabbed one of his hands with both of hers.

"Look Leni, there's this girl from my church who I think really likes me. I just can't stop thinking about her." The portly boy said nervously.

Leni's eyes widened at this news.

"I have….. competition?"

**It was brought to my attention a while ago that a plot point of my story is very similar to an existing episode of King of the Hill. I had no idea this episode existed, and I can't be expected to know all media. That being said, if anything about my story going forward feels too familiar, feel free to let me know, and I'll decide whether it's worth changing. The same goes for existing fanfics as well, as I can't possibly read every last one of them.**

**Between graduating from college, getting a full time job, and moving into a new place; With everything else going on, it's taken me close to half a year to get re-established in my writing. I'm going to be better at communicating my progress going forward.**


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